Blues 4, Avalanche 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) -Manny Legace's best game of the season came against a team that is familiar with some of the goalie's strongest performances.

Legace made 44 saves and Bill Guerin scored twice, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.

Legace, who did not start the previous two games, improved to 9-1 against Colorado in his career.

"I don't know. I really don't know," Legace said about his success facing the Avalanche. "It's just luck. Hopefully, it keeps up."

Legace, who is 3-3-1 this season after coming over from Detroit as a free agent, impressed Blues coach Mike Kitchen.

"It was probably his best game of the year," Kitchen said. "He controlled all his rebounds. That takes away any second chances."

Doug Weight assisted on all four St. Louis goals, giving him nine assists in his last five games. Dan Hinote and Bryce Salvador also scored for the Blues.

Weight's last four-assist game was Nov. 19, 2003, against Phoenix. He has four, four-assist games in his career.

"It's important for me to find guys and give them the puck," Weight said. "I'm not a goal scorer."

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Blues, who were winless in four games against Colorado last season. The Avalanche dropped to 5-1-2 in their last eight against St. Louis.

Ken Klee scored for the Avalanche, who outshot the Blues 45-29. Colorado has recorded 30 or more shots in 10 of its 13 games this season.

"Their goalie saw a lot of pucks," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "We didn't get a lot of second chances and when we did get the second chances, we didn't finish them."

Legace said he expected to see a lot of shots.

"They keep coming," he said. "All four of their lines just fly. I knew it was going to come. I like seeing shots but not that many."

Hinote, who spent his first six NHL seasons with the Avalanche before signing with St. Louis in July, scored at 11:17 in the first period to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. Hinote came out of the penalty box and took a pass from Weight past the red line. Hinote skated in on the left side, went around Colorado defenseman Patrice Brisebois and beat goalie Peter Budaj for his second of the season.

"Games against your old team and teammates, you want to do well," Hinote said. "It was a good way to start."

St. Louis took a 2-0 lead on a goal by Guerin at 1:42 of the second. From behind the net, Weight passed to Guerin, who one-timed the puck from the slot. Signed as a free agent in July, Guerin has at least one point in eight of the Blues' 12 games this season.

The Blues went ahead 3-0 when Salvador scored from the right circle at 16:57.

Colorado quickly answered on Klee's first goal of the season at 17:27, cutting the lead to 3-1. It was the only goal for Colorado in a period where the Avalanche outshot the Blues 18-6.

"We had a lot of good chances in the second period," Brisebois said. "We could at least have four or five goals but Legace stopped everything. He kept his team in the game. I think they win that game because of him."

Guerin scored his second goal with 2:35 remaining. Standing near the left post, he took a pass from Weight and knocked it in from just outside the crease.

Notes: Colorado was the least penalized team in the NHL during October and were called for just three minors against the Blues. ... Claimed off waivers Tuesday from Phoenix, center Joel Perrault has yet to play for the Blues, who lost 4-1 Wednesday at Dallas. ... Colorado defenseman Karlis Skrastins extended his consecutive games played streak to 446, the longest active streak in the NHL and second-longest by a defenseman in NHL history.