Blues drop final home game in shutout fashion

~ St. Louis tied a franchise record with just 12 home wins this season.

ST. LOUIS -- Curtis Joseph may be less than two weeks from turning 39 years old, but the Phoenix Coyotes goaltender appears far from finished.

In his final audition before he becomes an unrestricted free agent, Joseph made 40 saves for his fourth shutout and the Coyotes ended their season with a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night.

Joseph, who has 47 career shutouts, still ranks second in Blues history in wins (137), games (280) and minutes (15,987). He finished with a 32-21-3 record in his first season with the Coyotes.

As for now, Joseph is just planning to sit back and see where he'll end up next season.

"I'm just going to go home and see the family, I haven't seen them in a while," Joseph said. "Certainly, there's a lot to look forward to this summer."

Shane Doan scored his career-high 30th goal and Joel Perrault added his first career goal. Mike Johnson tallied the third goal for the Coyotes, who are undefeated in their last seven season finalies (5-0-2).

"For us to win at the end of the year, it's a nice ride home and something to remember in the summer," Joseph said.

Doan is not likely to forget his 30th goal.

"You always want to try and get better each year," Doan said. "To get 30 this year was nice, especially after the start I had. I feel like I contributed in the second half."

Sunday's loss put an end to a miserable home campaign for the Blues, who tied a franchise record previously set in 1977-78 for the fewest home wins in a season with 12. The Blues have lost 17 of their last 18 overall and remain tied with Pittsburgh for the fewest points (56) with one game remaining. St. Louis has yet to win a game it trailed after two periods (0-37).

Blues forward Jamal Mayers said this one was not acceptable.

"For the most part, we've played pretty well," Mayers said. "We've been in most every game. Tonight, for some reason, the effort was not there and it showed."

The Blues did out shoot the Coyotes 19-9 in the first period, but in a microcosm of the team's season, still managed to fall behind 1-0. Doan got the only goal of the period when he broke in 2-on-1 with Steven Reinprecht. He put Reinprecht's centering pass by Blues goalie Jason Bacashihua at the 11:39 mark.

Phoenix then put the game away with two goals early in the second period. Johnson scored at 4:35 when he made a wrist shot from the high slot. Perrault capped the scoring when he broke in alone and beat Bacashihua at 9:26 of the period with a wrist shot to the top shelf.

"They scored when they had their opportunities," Bacashihua said. "We had a lot of shots at Cujo, but he obviously played very well."

Notes: With one game remaining, Scott Young leads the Blues with 17 goals and 48 points, both of which would be franchise record lows for a team leader in those categories. The previous low-water marks were 21 goals by Christian Bordeleau in 1970-71, and 51 points by Red Berenson in the team's inaugural season in 1967-68. ... Doan's previous career high was 27 goals in 2003-04. ... Dean McAmmond, who was acquired by the Blues to provide some offense, has not scored a goal since Feb. 4, a span of 28 games.