St. Louis – The slogan for the St. Louis Blues this season is “Blue Revolution,” with The Beatles’ “Revolution” being piped through the loudspeakers before every game.
Unfortunately for the Avalanche, Manny Legace could have been a character from the “Yellow Submarine.” Legace played the part of a Blue Meanie, leading St. Louis to a 4-1 victory Thursday night at Scottrade Center.
Legace stopped 44-of-45 shots to prevent the Avs from sweeping their two-game swing through the Midwest. The Blues built a 3-0 lead against Avs goalie Peter Budaj, who has lost two straight games after winning back-to-back starts.
Bill Guerin scored twice for the Blues, and Doug Weight had four assists.
Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville praised Legace, but thought his team gave the Blues goalie an easy night.
“We didn’t get enough inside penetration. I thought their goalie saw a lot of the pucks tonight,” Quenneville said. “We got some second chances, but we didn’t finish a couple of high-quality second chances. We had a couple empty-netters that we didn’t finish, and we’ve got to finish those.”
The Avs gave it a good effort on the second night of a back-to-back road contest, but small defensive breakdowns proved their doom, the worst of which was the game’s first goal, scored by former Avs winger Dan Hinote at 11:17 of the first period.
Hinote came out of the penalty box, took a lead pass at center ice from Weight, got around Avs defenseman Patrice Brisebois and beat Budaj with a soft backhander. Brisebois seemed out of gas chasing Hinote, having spent a long shift on the power play. Brisebois said he wasn’t tired, but some miscommunication with Quenneville contributed to the goal.
“The coach was calling me. I didn’t know if he wanted me to change (or not),” Brisebois said. “We lost the puck in the zone, and (Hinote) was coming with speed out of the box. I tried to put him to the side, but he made a nice play. It was a nice goal for him.”
The game’s second goal, a one-timer in the slot from Guerin at 1:42 of the second, was an easy-as-you-please Weight-to-Guerin combo from behind the net. Too many Avs stood and watched the play, leaving Budaj helpless.
“We can’t let that pass get through,” Quenneville said. “It wasn’t just the coverage, but how we go at people.”
Bryce Salvador made it 3-0 with 3:03 left in the second before the Avs’ Ken Klee scored his first of the season. The Avs started the third period with a power play, but failed to score as Legace again made the saves. Guerin added a late goal to seal the deal.
Every Avalanche player except Brad Richardson had at least one shot on goal. But the team again struggled with little things, such as faceoffs (25-of-40), and they weren’t physical.
“Tonight, we just couldn’t finish,” said Brisebois, who was a minus-3. “We could have scored at least five goals in the second period, but we didn’t take advantage of it. We just couldn’t put the puck in the net.”
Said Weight: “Manny was huge for us tonight, and we capitalized on some chances. That’s a good team over there, and they put a lot of pressure on Manny, but he got us the win.”
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
