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Blues Have Canucks' Number


Coach Joel Quenneville can't explain the St. Louis Blues' continued dominance over the Vancouver Canucks, but he's not complaining.

"It's one of those things. We don't play different against Vancouver than we do against any other team, we play the same way," said Quenneville, after the Blues beat the Canucks for the 10th straight time, with Sunday night's 6-1 victory. "It's a flukey statistic."

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  • The Blues haven't lost to the Canucks since Quenneville took over for Mike Keenan as the team's coach in January 1997. The Blues' last loss to the Canucks came three weeks earlier, an 8-0 defeat which proved to be one of Keenan's final games.

    Over the course of their 10-game win streak, the Blues have outscored the Canucks 46-12, including 20-4 in four meetings last season. The Blues have also gone 7-0 against Canadian teams this season.

    Michal Handzus and Mike Eastwood scored two goals each as the Blues led 2-0 after the first period and then broke the game open, scoring twice over a 24-second span to build a 5-0 lead by the 4:45 mark of the third period.

    Pavol Demitra and Pierre Turgeon had a goal and an assist each for the Blues, who won their second straight road game and improved to 9-5-0. Goalie Jamie McLennan, making his second-straight start, stopped 17 shots, and improved to 4-0.

    Although the outcome was familiar, Turgeon said the Blues were facing a much better Vancouver team.

    "They had a tough time tonight. They've got a lot of good young players," said Turgeon, who scored his tam-leading ninth goal. "It was 3-0 for a while there and you never know.

  • We had a chance to score in the third period and it seems like it was done."
  • Vancouver's Alexander Mogilny, with his team-leading seventh goal, spoiled McLennan's shutout bid scoring at the 8:25 mark of the third period.

    Eastwood rounded out the scoring with his second of the night and fourth of the season with 7:47 remaining.

    The Canucks, coming off two straight wins, blew an opportunity to move five games over .500 for the first time since Nov. 19, 1993, when they were 12-7.

    "It was a tough game for us," said Canucks' Todd Bertuzzi. "I can't say we were frustrated. We just didn't get our chances like we usually do. Unfortunately, every bounce they had went in for them."

    Bertuzzi had a goal disallowed in the first period, and was ejected in the third after a fight with Tyson Nash. The fight began after Nash had one foot in the Blues' penalty box.

    Bertuzzi claimed innocence, saying it was the official who pointed him to the wrong penalty box, and Nash just happened to be there.

    Bertuzzi's goal was disallowed when referee Denis LaRue whistled the play dead before the puck was jammed across the goal-line.

    ©1999 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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