Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

Hats off to Blues' Perron

Winger scores 3 goals

ST. LOUIS -- Say good-bye to the five-game losing streak and hello to a new-look offense that had no trouble finding the back of the net.

The offensive-starved St. Louis Blues gorged themselves on an all-you-can-eat goal buffet with four in the first period Tuesday en route to a 6-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

Blues winger David Perron collected his first NHL hat trick with three goals, netting the final one with on a power play with 4:07 remaining. He also scored twice in the first period, while Brad Boyes enjoyed four-point night with a goal and three assists.

"We've been struggling to score goals, so it was nice to come out and jump on them a little bit," said Blues center Andy McDonald, whose goal 18 seconds into the game set the tone for the rest of the night. "It kind of got everybody rolling."

A four-goal blitz began 18 seconds into the game when McDonald, playing center for the second straight game, ripped the Blues' first shot past Canucks backup goalie Andrew Raycroft.

"Obviously when Andy McDonald's skating like that, it doesn't matter whether he's playing forward or defense or whatever," said Blues coach Andy Murray, noting it was McDonald's 500th NHL game. "He's a dangerous player."

In the first 34 secoonds the Blues already had a goal, a fight and a rare appearance by "Towel Man," the fan in the upper deck who celebrates Blues goals.

The offensive party was just getting started as the Blues gained a little revenge for a four-game playoff sweep at the hands of the Canucks last spring.

The Blues scored only five goals in the entire series, yet had four in less than half a period Tuesday.

"We're always going to remember that series last year and it was even better to (win) against these guys," Perron said. "Our coaches told us to come out hard out of the gate and we responded well. It's always a good sign for our team; we've got to go that way all the time now."

They scored four goals in 7 minutes, 36 seconds, not far off the franchise record for shortest time span to four goals (6:41 in the first period against Vancouver on Feb. 6, 1973).

The Blues had gone five straight games without a goal in the first period since scoring three on Oct. 28 at Carolina.

Perron scored the first of his two goals in the period at the 5:42 mark. Defenseman Erik. Johnson made a great move around a defender, then fired a shot in front that went in off the skate of Vancouver's Matt Pettinger.

Perron made it 4-0 when he fired in a quick wrist shot from the right faceoff circle, giving the Blues four goals in nine shots against the shell-shocked Raycroft.

This was the same Raycroft that had won four of his last five starts while Roberto Luongo was out with a rib injury. Raycroft also was sporting a 1.60 goals-against average with 69 saves in 72 shots in his previous three games.

Tuesday's explosion seemed more like a couple weeks' worth of goals from a Blues squad that had scored only twice in previous four home games -- two of which were shutouts.

Now 5-1-2 when scoring the first goal this season, the Blues had only four goals in their previous five games combined.

"We can't be getting too excited here," McDonald said. "It's about generatingchances and when we struggled a few games ago, we weren't generating that much.

"We've got enough skill in here that they're going to go in for us. It's just making sure we're doing the right things in the offensive zone."

Three of the four first-period goals came from the line of McDonald, Perron and Boyes, with Boyes assisting on all three of them. The trio had five goals and 10 points on the night.

Boyes ended a seven-game goal drought during a power play with 1:15 remaining in the second period.

He took a cross-ice pass from McDonald and beat Luongo with a quick snap shot from the left faceoff circle. It was Boyes' first goal since Oct. 23 and his third this season.

Raycroft allowed four goals on 13 shots before being replaced by Luongo.

Vancouver's Ryan Kesler gained control and fed Henrik Sedin in front for Sedin's ninth goal to ruin Chris Mason's shutout bid 1:02 into the third period.

Contact reporter Norm Sanders at nsanders@bnd.com or 239-2454.