St. Louis Blues - 5 Carolina Hurricanes - 2

October 28, 2009

Jeff Ponder

The Blues were happy to receive some southern hospitality in RBC Center Wednesday night.

After losing to the Dallas Stars on home ice 4-1 Saturday night, the Blues came into Carolina with some vengeance. The visiting team notched 3 goals in the first period en route to a 5-2 victory over the struggling Hurricanes, who extended their winless streak to seven games.

David Perron opened the scoring in the game, getting the goal on a hard-nosed effort from line-mate Patrik Berglund. The Swedish forward took a hard shot from the face-off circle, then stayed with the puck and shoved it in front of the net where Perron poked it behind Hurricane net-minder Cam Ward.

Minutes later, center Yan Stastny, just recalled from Peoria of the AHL, scored on his first shot of the season after teammate Cam Janssen caused a turnover with a big hit in the offensive zone. The third goal came just :16 later, when Perron sent Jay McClement on a breakaway who lifted it over Ward for a quick 3-0 lead.

The Blues also got a goal from Andy McDonald and an empty-netter from Perron, marking his third point of the night and sixth point in three games. Perron attributes his success Wednesday night to his teammates' willingness to win puck battles..

"I think it's just working harder than the other team," Perron said. "Even though we got outshot, the two points is what we needed to get. We just have to keep playing like that."

Blues goalie Chris Mason stopped 34 of 36 shots, improving to 3-3-1 on the season.

"He's the main reason we came back last year and made the playoffs," Perron said about his goaltender. "He's gotten off to a great start, and he's our best player every night. We've got to have him like that all year."

The Hurricanes received goals from Joe Corvo and Scott Walker, both coming on the power-play.

"You can't break down defensively the way we did," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said of his team after the loss. "We haven't respected the defensive part of the game."

The Blues will return home Thursday night to take on the Phoenix Coyotes, who are 1-2-0 in their last three games and 7-4-0 on the season.