ST. LOUIS — Cam Janssen grew up watching the St. Louis Blues, wondering what it would be like to score a goal for them.
Now he knows.
Janssen scored his second career goal and Patrick Berglund scored his 14th to take the lead among NHL rookies, helping the Blues to a 5-2 victory Thursday night over the Colorado Avalanche.
Janssen scored his first goal of the season at 9:36 into the second period, giving the Blues a 2-0 advantage. He pushed in a rebound when the puck was left in front of the net after a shot by Trent Whitfield, who was recalled earlier in the day from Peoria. The goal ended a 58-game scoring drought for Janssen. His other goal came Feb. 24, 2007, against Washington.
“Hey, the puck was loose. It was right there,” said Janssen, who grew up in nearby Eureka, Mo. “I just tapped it home. It wasn’t pretty by any means but it was pretty to me. I’ll take it.
“Growing up watching the Blues and seeing everybody score goals and how exciting it was to score goals, to get my first one at home is unbelievable. My mom and dad will be pumped up when I get home.”
Manny Legace stopped 24 shots for the Blues and picked up his 14th career win over Colorado.
“I don’t own the Avalanche; I think they have some investors,” Legace said. “No one owns any team in this league. You just have to be ready to play every night.”
Legace made some big saves early, including a 2-on-1 break at the beginning to thwart the Avalanche.
“I’d say Legace made the big saves in his net and gave them a chance to get going and they capitalized on their opportunities,” Colorado coach Tony Granato said. “Special teams was the difference tonight.”
Blues coach Andy Murray agreed.
“Two power-play goals and solid penalty killing; that’s how you win in this league,” Murray said.
Brad Boyes, T.J. Oshie and David Backes also scored for the Blues. Cody McLeon and Milan Hejduk scored for Colorado.
Colorado goalie Peter Budaj made his first start since Jan. 4. He had allowed 11 goals in his last three starts before giving up four against the Blues.
St. Louis took a 1-0 lead when Berglund took a pass from David Perron and wristed in a shot from the left face-off circle at 4:49 of the first period.
Berglund has one more goal than fellow rookies Kris Versteeg of Chicago and Blake Wheeler of Boston.
The Blues made it 3-0 when Boyes scored a power-play on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle 59 seconds into the third period. It was the 20th goal for Boyes.
McLeon scored at 2:18 and Hejduk poked in a rebound from the side of the net at 8:54 to make it 3-2.
“You can’t lose you cool there,” Legace said. “We came back and scored two goals. We didn’t panic.”
A power-play goal by rookie Oshie at 14:52 gave St. Louis a two-goal advantage. Oshie ripped a slap shot from the top of the slot for the score.
“I fired it and I got lucky; it went in the five-hole,” Oshie said.
St. Louis has scored a power-play goal in 13 of its last 21 games.
An empty-net goal by David Backes while the Avalanche was on a power play sealed the victory at 17:55.
The game got off to a rocking start when St. Louis Brad Winchester and Colorado’s Cody McLeod began fighting two seconds in the game after the puck was dropped. Each received a five-minute major for fighting.
Notes: St. Louis C Keith Tkachuk was scratched. He was knocked
out in the second period of Tuesday’s game in Calgary. Team officials said he does not have a concussion and is expected back for Saturday’s home game against Chicago. … Colorado’s LW Ryan Smyth and Hejduk are both one goal shy of 300 in their careers. … Colorado G Andrew Raycroft, who had a seven-game winning streak snapped Tuesday in a 4-3 loss to Columbus, sat out with a with a minor calf injury.
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