Blues 3, Hurricanes 1

The St. Louis Blues won their first preseason game this year and defeated the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-1 on Tuesday night in St. Louis.  Carolina's preseason record dropped to 1-3.

Ryan Murphy scored the only goal for the Hurricanes as he scored off of a clean faceoff win by Riley Nash.  The goal tied the game at the time in the second period, but the Blues would score twice more to seal the win.

Carolina had trouble generating much offense all night long and even struggled on the powerplay, 0-5.  After a quick start, the team is now 5-20 while with the man advantage this preseason and has only scored two goals in four games at even strength.

Cam Ward went the distance and made 26 saves on 29 shots.  According to reports from the game on Twitter, he was sharp in this game.

Brian Elliott was the winning goalie for the Blues.

Things don't get easier for the Canes as they next travel to Columbus for another game tomorrow night.

Game Notes:

• Jay Harrison led the way with 24:19 of ice time.  Next was Murphy with 22:38.
• Victor Rask once again led the team with a winning faceoff percentage of 60%, (3-5).  Eric Staal was low man at 37%, (7-19).
• Alexander Semin had a team high four shots on goal with Jeff Skinner and Staal next with three each.  The Canes were outshot 29-20, including 14-6 in the opening period.
• Justin Faulk had a game high three blocked shots.