ST. LOUIS (AP) -Manny Legace gets up emotionally every time he faces the Colorado Avalanche and it shows in his record.
The St. Louis goalie made 24 saves to help the Blues to a 4-1 victory over Colorado on Friday night. That improved Legace's career mark against the Avalanche to 12-1 and his goals-against average to 1.85.
"It's just one of those teams that you have to be up for," Legace said of the Avalanche. "Hopefully, it keeps up. I respect this team so much. They're so talented, if you don't show up against these guys, they're going to bury you in a hurry."
Brad Boyes scored his fourth goal of the season and Dan Hinote added two goals in the third period for the Blues, who extended their winning streak to three games and are 3-1-0 for the first time since 1997-98. Jay McClement had the other St. Louis goal and Paul Kariya picked up an assist, giving him six this season.
Colorado's Jose Theodore, who made 19 saves, fell to 0-4 lifetime against the Blues. Paul Stastny scored his fifth goal for the Avalanche.
The Avalanche had the better of the play in the first two periods, but only managed to get one by Legace.
"He made some big saves and he didn't leave any loose pucks in front of him," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "Their defense played well around the net area."
With the game tied 1-1 early in the third period, Lee Stempniak tried to beat Theodore with a wraparound attempt. Theodore stopped that, but the puck came to McClement on the right side. Theodore stopped McClement's first attempt, but McClement put in his own rebound to make it 2-1 at the 4:57 mark.
Just over a minute later, Hinote, who was a healthy scratch the past two games, converted Jamal Mayer's centering attempt to make it 3-1 with 14:00 left.
Hinote was just happy to be back on the ice.
"Obviously, when you're not playing, you don't feel like you're a part of the team," he said. "It was good to get the call. I was just trying to chip in."
Quenneville said McClement's goal was the backbreaker.
"That second goal was huge," he said. "Whoever got that was probably in control of the game, and we weren't very good after that."
Hinote scored again at 15:59 to make it a three-goal lead.
Theodore, who lost his starting position to Peter Budaj at the end of last season, was starting his first game after recovering from minor knee surgery. The Blues greeted him rudely when just over a minute into the game, Kariya skated in alone down the right side. Theodore stopped Kariya's shot, but Boyes put the rebound home at 1:14.
Quenneville felt Theodore did fine in his first action.
"The first couple of periods, he didn't get a lot of work," he said, "but I thought he looked good in net.
Stastny, who grew up in St. Louis, tied it when he banked in a shot off Kariya's skate that surprised Legace.
Notes: Colorado F Andrew Brunnette played in his 375th consecutive game, the third-longest active streak in the NHL. ... Kariya has scored a point in all four games. ... The Blues are 2-0 at Scottrade Center. St. Louis went 18-19-4 at home last season and were 30-42-10 the last two. ... Nine of the Blues' 15 goals have come in the third period.
