Oct 14, 2006, 15:10 GMT
- The St. Louis Blues hope to build on their first win of the season tonight when they welcome the Chicago Blackhawks to the Scottrade Center.
After losing its first three games out west, St. Louis posted a 3-2 shootout win over Boston in its home opener on Thursday. Lee Stempniak's shootout goal lifted the Blues to the win.
It was St. Louis' first win since April 9, as the club lost its final five games last season. The Blues haven't posted a winning streak since February 12-March 1 last season, and those two wins were separated by the Olympic break.
Stempniak also scored in the third period for the Blues, while Jamal Mayers tied things late in regulation. Goaltender Manny Legace made 16 saves in the win, his first with the team after coming over from Detroit as a free agent this summer.
St. Louis will host Phoenix on Tuesday.
Chicago, meanwhile, has won two of its first three games. On Thursday, Jeff Hamilton scored the game-winning goal with 7:40 left in the third period as the Blackhawks downed the Nashville Predators, 3-1, at United Center.
Nikolai Khabibulin was stellar in net with 37 saves for the Blackhawks, who have already beaten Nashville twice this season.
Michal Handzus also tallied for Chicago, while Martin Havlat added an empty netter to ice the game. Havlat is off to a monster start to his first campaign in the Windy City, as he leads the team with four goals and eight points. The star winger was acquired from Ottawa in a three-way trade over the summer.
In just three games the Blackhawks have tallied 15 goals, which is among the league leaders in the early going.
Chicago will visit Colorado on Monday.
The Hawks went 5-3 against the Blues last season.
© 2006 The Sports Network
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