Steen scores twice as Blues blank Canucks
Posted October 27, 2011 12:44 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — Alexander Steen scored twice and goaltender Brian Elliott made 32 stops as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 on Wednesday night.
Elliott, who signed a free-agent contract as a backup with St. Louis this summer, improved his record to 4-0-0. It was his first shutout of the season and 10th of his career.
The victory improved the Blues’ record to 5-4-0. St. Louis has won three consecutive games, all with Elliott starting.
Patrik Berglund scored the other St. Louis goal later in the third period. Kevin Shattenkirk had two assists.
Vancouver goaltender Cory Schneider faced 31 shots. The Stanley Cup finalist Canucks lost their second game in as many nights and saw their record drop to 4-5-1.
It was a dull game and the sellout crowd of 18,860 grew restless. There was just one goal and a single penalty called after two periods.
The Canucks outshot St. Louis 17-6 in the third period.
Elliott wasn’t overworked for most of the game but still made some big stops.
He blocked a point-blank shot from Alex Burrows early in the match, then stopped Chris Higgins on a three-on-one later. He also stoned Daniel Sedin on a rebound.
Schneider played well in his fourth start of the season, adding more fire to the heated debate over whether he or Roberto Luongo should see more ice time.
Schneider looked confident in net and always seemed to be in position. He showed a quick hand by gloving a Matt D’Agostini blast during a first-period power play. Later he stood his ground to block a Evgeny Grachev shot when the big Russian centre stickhandled in on net.
Steen scored the game’s first goal at 8:29 of the second period. He fired a long, hard shot that Schneider stopped, then barged through the Canuck defence to bang home his own rebound for his fourth goal of the season.
It was the eighth time in 10 games this season that the Canucks allowed the first goal.
Steen increased the lead at 6:17 of the third. His shot from the top of the faceoff circle beat a screened Schneider on the short side.
For Steen, it was his sixth goal in eight games. He also has nine goals in 15 career games against Vancouver.
The Canucks played the second of back-to-back games after losing 3-2 in Edmonton Tuesday night. Luongo started that game but was pulled after allowing three goals on four shots in a five-minute span in the second period.
Both the Blues and Canucks have seen their starting goaltenders struggle.
Luongo, a Vezina Trophy nominee last year, has a 2-3-1 record and has allowed 19 goals for a 3.46 goals-against average. The Blues’ Jaroslav Halak is 1-4 and has a 3.47 goals-against.
Notes: The Vancouver coaching staff wore lavender coloured ties as part of an NHL promotion to fight cancer. …Defenceman Alexander Sulzer, signed as a free agent last summer, dressed for his first game as a Canuck, replacing Andrew Alberts. …Sami Salo has 19 game-winning goals, leaving him tied with Mattias Ohlund for the most by a Canuck defenceman.
