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Blues' skid continues as Turgeon, Hejduk lead Avalanche

Dec 14, 2006 - 4:49 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- After shaking the rust, Pierre Turgeon has been a key contributor for the Colorado Avalanche.

Turgeon extended his goal-scoring streak to three games and added an assist and Milan Hejduk also netted a tally and set up another as the Avalanche skated to a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues, who have lost nine in a row.

After missing the first 27 games of the campaign while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, Turgeon made his season debut at San Jose on Thursday and was held scoreless. The 37-year-old has found his scoring touch since, tallying in each of his last three contests, including once against his former team Wednesday.

"It's nice to be back," Turgeon said. "It took me six months for me to get back out there. The last couple of games, the bottom line is we came out with two points, and we have won three (of my four) games, so we have to keep it rolling."

A member of the Blues from 1996-2001, Turgeon staked Colorado to a 4-1 lead less than six minutes into the third period. The four-time All-Star carried the puck down the left wing before unleashing a wrist shot from the faceoff circle that found its way past goaltender Jason Bacashihua and into the top right corner of the net at 5:45.

"St. Louis has a lot of talent," Turgeon said. "You never know with them. They have (Bill) Guerin and Doug Weight and (Keith) Tkachuk, so they can do some damage when they're on their game."

It was the 514th career goal for Turgeon, who trails former Buffalo teammate and Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk by four for 29th place on the all-time list and Gilbert Perreault (1,326) by two points for 26th. The first overall pick by Buffalo in 1987, Turgeon also set up rookie Paul Stastny's tally in the second period for his 810th assist, moving him within three of John Bucyk for 25th all-time.

Captain Joe Sakic scored a goal in his fourth straight game, Stastny added an assist and Peter Budaj made 25 saves for the Avalanche, who have won three of four.

"The more you play, the more confident you get when you are winning," said Budaj, who made his second consecutive start. "When you're losing, you don't get as confident. So far, so good, but my team also played very well. We've scored nine goals the past two games, and you're going to win the majority of games when you score four or more goals."

Jamal Mayers netted the lone tally for St. Louis, which fell to 3-9-2 on the road.

"When you're playing a team like Colorado, the way their team is set up now with the skill on all four lines and offensive capability, you can't go into a game where you don't have all your players on board," said Blues coach Andy Murray, who is 0-2-0 since taking over for the fired Mike Kitchen on Monday.

"(President) John Davidson indicated about the job at the press conference and I just listened to him about changing the culture. So I addressed that with the team, and moving forward here, we do need to change things."

The Blues, whose last win came in a shootout at Detroit on November 24, grabbed the lead on a terrific play. From the left circle, Jay McClement slid a pass under a sliding defenseman to Mayers, who beat Budaj with a high wrist shot at 5:35 of the first period for his first goal in eight games.

It was all downhill from there for St. Louis as Sakic put a wrister from the right circle past Bacashihua during a power play at 1:49 of the second. Stastny, who helped set up the goal, netted one of his own less than two minutes later by taking a feed from behind the net by Turgeon and knocking it in from near the left goalpost.

"Once we were down 1-0, it was time to turn things around," Stastny said. "When it's a home game, we have to take advantage of those, especially early in the season."

The tally accounted for the 22nd point of the season for Stastny, who snapped a tie with teammate Wojtek Wolski for third among rookies.

Hejduk made it 3-1 with 4:50 to go in the session, skating around a defender in the neutral zone and carrying down the left side on a 2-on-1 before unleashing a wrister from the circle that got by Bacashihua.

"The main thing was that we won," Hejduk said. "We needed two points, but it was a good feeling (to score). In the second period, we had better jump and spent more time in their zone. We got some goals, and that was the difference."

"We didn't play exactly like we'd like to play," St. Louis' Radek Dvorak said. "Every game is important right now, and we can't come out having games like this tonight. We have players who create scoring chances, and we didn't do that."