Blues Make the Most of 14 Shots in 3-1 Win

The St. Louis Blues weren’t held back by a season-low 14 shots against the Edmonton Oilers.

Keith Tkachuk scored two goals as the Blues made the most of their limited chances in a 3-1 victory over the Oilers on Thursday night at St. Louis.

“Once you get your chances, you’ve got to bear down and crash the net,” Tkachuk said. “And that’s what we did. It turned out to be pretty good.”

The Blues got 27 saves from backup goalie Fred Brathwaite and won for the second time in six games. Although they didn’t reach double figures in shots until about four minutes remained in the second period, they compensated with three goals in the first eight shots against Tommy Salo.

“Everybody’s disappointed,” Edmonton Coach Craig MacTavish said. “We didn’t give them many chances all night, and what few chances we gave up cost us.”

Tkachuk has 10 goals, seven assists and three game-winning goals in the last 12 games. He gave the Blues an early lead, capitalizing on a giveaway by Ryan Smyth for an unassisted goal at 1:03 of the first period.

Tkachuk made it 3-1 when he tapped in Pavol Demitra’s shot during a three-on-two break at 5:15 of the second. On replays, it appeared as if the puck might have gone in without Tkachuk deflecting it.

Brathwaite got a rare start in place of Brent Johnson, who had started 14 of the previous 15 games, and got his first victory since Dec. 30. Brathwaite, who started against the Mighty Ducks on Jan. 28, robbed Tom Poti with a sliding save in the first period and Ethan Moreau in the second.

New York Islanders 4, Toronto 1--Shawn Bates scored New York’s league-leading 15th short-handed goal and Michael Peca had three assists for the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y. Tomas Kaberle scored for Toronto, which was without top-line defenseman Dmitry Yushkevich and second-leading scorer Alexander Mogilny.

Mogilny sat out his third consecutive game because of back spasms, and Yushkevich could be out for the rest of the season because of a blood clot in his leg. Yushkevich, a member of the Russian Olympic team, probably will miss the Salt Lake City games.

Montreal 1, Pittsburgh 0--Jose Theodore recorded his second consecutive shutout and Shaun Van Allen scored with 6:28 remaining in the second period for the Canadiens at Montreal. Theodore, who also held New Jersey scoreless in a 1-0 win Tuesday, stopped 30 shots for his sixth shutout of the season.

Montreal captain Saku Koivu said that the stomach cancer that has sidelined him this season was in full remission. Koivu, 27, said he planned to start working out and could return by the end of the season in April.

Atlanta 3, New Jersey 3--Ray Ferraro stuffed in a rebound with two seconds remaining to help the Thrashers rally from a two-goal third-period deficit at East Rutherford, N.J. Ferraro’s goal capped a wild final 15 seconds in which the Thrashers took four shots. Jiri Slegr also scored for Atlanta in the period, when the Thrashers took eight shots on goal, one more than they had in the first two periods combined.

Jason Arnott, Patrik Elias and Randy McKay scored for New Jersey, which was soundly booed by its fans after squandering the lead against the NHL’s second-worst team.

Florida 3, Tampa Bay 1--Roberto Luongo made 36 saves at Tampa, Fla., for the Panthers, who ended a six-game winless streak.

The victory was the 550th of Coach Mike Keenan’s NHL career. Luongo’s bid for his fifth shutout of the season ended when Vincent Lecavalier scored with 2:45 left in the third period.