Manny Legace knew he’d need his “A-game” to beat his former team.
He came up with an A-plus.
Legace made 31 saves for his 20th career shutout to lift the St. Louis Blues to a 2-0 win over the NHL-leading Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.
It was the first time Detroit, winner of 14 of its last 16 games, was held scoreless this season. The Red Wings hadn’t been shut out at home since a 3-0 loss to Boston on Jan 7, 2004.
It was a complete turnaround after Legace and the Blues dropped a 5-0 decision to the Red Wings the day after Christmas. Legace was pulled midway through the second period in that game after giving up four goals on 16 shots.
“The guys played phenomenal for me,” said Legace, who played with Detroit from 1999-06. “I was awful after Christmas … You have to bring your A-game (against the Red Wings) or you’ll look bad.”
In other NHL games Monday, it was: Boston 5, Atlanta 2; Columbus 4, Edmonton 2; San Jose 3, Minnesota 2; the New York Islanders 4, Carolina 1; Phoenix 4, Colorado 3 in a shootout; Nashville 1, Dallas 0; and Calgary 2, Vancouver 1.
Erik Johnson and Lee Stempniak scored for the Blues, who snapped a four-game losing streak.
“The guys played phenomenal for me,” said Legace, who played with Detroit from 1999-2000 until 2005-06. “I was awful after Christmas … You have to bring your A-game (against the Red Wings) or you’ll look bad.”
Legace stopped Jiri Hudler on a breakaway with 8:05 left.
“Goaltending was the key to the game,” St. Louis coach Andy Murray said. “Manny had a very good night tonight.”
Dominik Hasek made 21 saves for the Red Wings.
“At times we did some good things,” Detroit’s Kris Draper said. “But from start to finish, it wasn’t our most complete effort.”
Johnson, a rookie defenseman, opened the scoring 5:41 into the third period when he beat a screened Hasek with a slap shot from the high slot after picking up a loose puck and skating from inside the right circle. It was Johnson’s third goal of the season.
The first overall pick of the 2006 NHL Draft had gone 14 games without a goal.
“I was getting a little frustrated because I’ve been in a drought,” Johnson said. “But tonight I was saying ‘feed me the rock, feed me the rock and I’ll pound it.”’
All three of his goals have been game winners.
When informed of that stat, Legace said: “Well, he should score more often.”
He did something that Blues goalies haven’t been able to do often: Shut out the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. The last St. Louis goaltender to do so was Guy Hebert on Jan. 11, 1993.
It was Detroit’s fourth game in six days.
“We had no juice in the tank, it’s pretty obvious,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought we did all right for about the first 10 minutes at the start of the game. We tried to push, but we didn’t have any jump. Give them credit. They played hard.”
Stempniak scored into an empty net with 22 seconds left.
Sharks 3, Wild 2
At St. Paul, Minn., Joe Thornton and Milan Michalek each had a pair of assists and San Jose Sharks made a mark in the NHL record book, beating Minnesota for their 10th consecutive road win.
Steve Bernier, Kyle McLaren and Jonathan Cheechoo scored for the Sharks, who last lost a road game on Nov. 9, and are now tied with four other teams for second on the NHL’s list for consecutive road wins.
Coyotes 4, Avalanche 3, SO
At Glendale, Ariz., Peter Mueller and Radim Vrbata scored in a shootout to give Phoenix a win over Colorado.
Vrbata scored two goals in the second period, both on the power play.
Cody MacLeod, Wojtek Wolski and Brett Clark scored for Colorado.
Predators 1, Stars 0
J.P. Dumont scored a second-period goal, rookie Dan Ellis stopped 22 shots for his third career shutout and Nashville ended a seven-game losing streak in Dallas.
Dumont provided the Predators with all the scoring they’d need at 16:42 of the second period, striking from in front of the net off a setup by Alexander Radulov.
Bruins 5, Thrashers 2 Mark Stuart broke a tie in the second period, Phil Kessel and Matt Lashoff added insurance goals in the third and host Boston ended a six-game skid.
Colin Stuart – Mark’s brother- scored his first NHL goal for Atlanta in just his second career game. Bobby Holik also scored for the Thrashers.
Blue Jackets 4, Oilers 2
Rick Nash scored three times to break out of a goal-scoring slump and Columbus beat Edmonton.
Jiri Novotny had a goal, and Nikolai Zherdev added two assists for the Blue Jackets, who have won three straight at home.
Islanders 4, Hurricanes 1
Marc-Andre Bergeron had two goals and an assist, and visiting New York scored three goals in a 3:39 stretch to beat Carolina.
Bill Guerin and Ruslan Fedotenko also scored and Mike Comrie added two assists for the Islanders.
Flames 2, Canucks 1
Owen Nolan and Kristian Huselius scored and host Calgary beat Vancouver for the first time in four tries this season.
Daymond Langkow set up both goals, and goalie Miikka Kiprusoff made 25 saves for the Flames (19-14-7), who won their second straight game.
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