NHL : Blues Win the Easy Way With Hull

Brett Hull scored his 19th goal to move into a tie with Quebec’s Owen Nolan for the NHL lead as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Nordiques, 5-2, before a sellout crowd of 17,960 Thursday night.

The Blues took a 4-0 lead before the Nordiques scored. Hull also assisted on a breakaway goal by Dave Christian with 1:33 left, passing up a chance to score.

Brendan Shanahan added a goal and an assist for the Blues.

Curtis Joseph made 32 saves for the Blues and also was credited with his fourth assist on Rich Sutter’s shorthanded breakaway goal in the second period. He tied Mike Liut’s team assist record for a season set in 1983-84.

Greg Paslawski and Claude Lapointe scored in the third period for Quebec. The Nordiques remained winless on the road at 0-10-1 a night after getting their first road point of the season in a tie against the Buffalo Sabres.

The Blues have beaten the Nordiques 11 consecutive times at home, dating to Nov. 14, 1984.

The Blues outshot Quebec, 15-8, in the first period and took a 1-0 lead for only the fifth time in 24 games overall on Hull’s goal. Hull, who has led the league in goals the last two seasons, stole the puck from Craig Wolanin in the Nordiques’ zone and scored on a shot from the slot that deflected off Ron Tugnutt’s pads at 16:53.