Avs rout Blues 7-3, tie for Northwest lead

Led by Chris Stewart’s hat trick and two goals from Milan Hejduk the Colorado Avalanche routed the St. Louis Blues 7-3 Saturday night in Denver. The victory ended the Blues five game winning streak and moved the Avalanche back into a tie with Vancouver for the lead in the Northwest Division.

David Perron gave St. Louis the lead at the 8:35 mark of the first period when he tipped a shot from Eric Brewer past Avs goalie Craig Anderson.
That lead would last all of 11 seconds. The Avs controlled the face-off after the St. Louis goal and moved the puck into the Blues zone, where Peter Mueller hit a streaking Milan Hejduk with a pass that Hejduk shot past St, Louis goalie Chris Mason at 8:46 to tie the game.
Little more than a minute later the onslaught continued. Chris Stewart took a pass from Paul Stastny at the top of the crease and beat Mason to make the score 2-1 at 9:58.

Stewart started the second period in the same fashion. He took a pass from T.J. Galiardi, sped down the right wing side and fired a slap shot that beat Mason to make the score 3-1 Colorado.
24 seconds later Hejduk beat Mason with a wrist shot for his second goal of the game to make the score 4-1. St. Louis coach Davis Payne then replaced Mason with Ty Conklin.
Galiardi added to the lead at 10:38 when he backhanded the rebound of a Chris Stewart shot past Conklin to make the score 5-1 Colorado.
Alex Steen scored the second Blues goal 31 seconds later. Avs goalie Anderson was caught out of position playing the puck by the side of the goal when Jay McClement passed the puck to Steen, who shot the puck into the wide open net.
Chris Stewart completed his hat trick at 19:03. He was breaking in on goal when he was tripped by the Blues Erik Johnson and awarded a penalty shot. Stewart beat Conklin to give the Avs a 6-2 lead at the end of the second period,
Alex Steen scored his second goal of the game at 4:23, when he deflected a shot by Carlo Colaiacovo to get the Blues to within 3 at 6-3.
Matt Hendricks closed out the scoring at 18:42. The Blues had pulled Conklin for an extra attacker and Hendricks gathered the puck, carried it into the St. Louis zone and backhanded it into the empty net to make the final score 7-3 Colorado.

NOTES
-Craig Anderson had 39 saves in his 20th consecutive start
-Attendance was 18,007, a sellout.

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The Avs host division rival Vancouver Tuesday..

Bruce Wilkie is a Colorado semi-native, having moved to Denver in 1971. He has worked with pro and college hockey teams since 1975 and now covers the Avs for thehockeywriters.com.