Blues, Avalanche Tie In Showdown

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The St. Louis Blues just won’t go away.

Thursday night, they continued their early-season run with a 2-2 tie against the Colorado Avalanche to extend their home-ice unbeaten streak to eight games.

“I think they’re for real,” said Colorado coach Marc Crawford. “I think (Blues coach) Joel Quenneville’s influence is showing now.”

While the Blues had their seven-game winning streak stopped at home, they are 7-0-1 in their last eight at the Kiel Center - where they have been under .500 over the last two seasons (32-37-13).

“We’re all playing together now in a system and there’s a lot of unity,” said goaltender the Blues’ Grant Fuhr, who made 29 saves and contributed an assist. “If you don’t have that, it’s controlled madness.”

Since losing to the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 on opening night, the season has been one long joy ride for the Blues. St. Louis has lost just once in its last 13 games and is unbeaten in the last four. The Blues are 10-2-2, and are tied with Detroit for most points in the league with 22.

Colorado, too, is off to a good start, at 7-2-6.

Chris Phillips, the No. 1 draft choice in the 1996 entry draft, scored his first career NHL goal and Daniel Alfredsson scored his seventh goal in seven games as Ottawa defeated Florida 5-2 at Miami.

Teemu Selanne scored two goals, giving him a team-record six consecutive games with a goal, and Guy Hebert earned his first shutout of the season as Anaheim defeated Boston 3-0 at Boston.

Patrik Elias, Denis Pederson and Petr Sykora scored two goals apiece to lead New Jersey to an 8-1 victory over Vancouver at East Rutherford, N.J.