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Budaj, Avalanche stop points streak for Blues

Nov 27, 2008 - 5:18 AM By Dave Reed PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DENVER (Ticker) -- Ian Laperriere and defenseman Daniel Tjarnqvist recorded a goal and an assist apiece and Peter Budaj made 21 saves to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.

Budaj, who made his 11th consecutive start in goal for Colorado, improved to 5-3-0 in his last eight starts with five saves in the first, nine in the second and seven more in the third.

Ryan Smyth put Colorado ahead midway through the second period when he deflected Jordan Leopold's slap shot past Manny Legace. Smyth's power-play tally was only the second allowed by St. Louis in its last seven games.

"Everybody knows my job in front of the net," Smyth said. "I got a stick on it, which is great. It's always nice to get something early, obviously it was nice to see Daniel Tjarnqvist get his first goal in his second game."

The goal came 43 seconds after Cam Janssen was called for roughing deep in the Blues' offensive zone.

"We took a bad penalty," St. Louis coach Andy Murray said. "Those are the kind of penalties you pay the price on. Cam plays with a lot of energy and he's a real positive contributor. It's one of those things that happened and he needs to learn from it, as does our team."

Colorado won its last three games - all in a shootout - after scoring a power-play goal. The Avalanche lost their last three when they failed to convert on the man advantage.

Laperriere added an insurance goal 8:11 into the third period after his wrist shot from the slot beat Legace on the stick side.

The Blues had an opportunity to get back in the game when T.J Hensick received a double minor for high sticking, but David Perron's slap shot off the left post was as close as they would get to scoring.

"It was one of the best defensive games we've had in a long time, if not the whole season," Budaj said. "The penalty kill was really strong. The guys were winning the battles, jumping on loose pucks and blocking shots. It was a big team win."

St. Louis saw its season-high five-game point streak come to an end. All five games had been decided by one goal.

Legace entered the game with a 13-2-0 career record against the Avalanche, which includes three shutouts.

Tjarnqvist gave Colorado a 1-0 lead after blasting a one-timer from the slot through traffic and past Legace low on the glove side. Laperriere dumped the puck behind the St. Louis net and David Jones came out from behind the right post to set up Tjarnqvist, who was crashing from the right point.

It was Tjarnqvist's first goal since December 28, 2006 at Los Angeles while playing for the Edmonton Oilers. He spent part of the 2007-08 season playing in Russia for Yaroslavl.

"That was a long time ago," said Tjarnqvist, who did not play in Colorado's first 19 games. "It was a long time since I played. I saw an opportunity there and Jones made a really good pass. I just tried to get it on the net."

Keith Tkachuk tied the game 4:52 into the second period when he beat Budaj with a one-timer from the right slot after taking a pass from defenseman Eric Brewer in the left corner. Tkachuk now has 998 career points.

"The first period they were all over us, no question about it," he said. "We took over in the second, but that goal deflated us."