Blues win, go up 2-1 in series

ST. LOUIS -- So far, the Blues don't miss Al MacInnis.

Doug Weight had two goals and an assist and a stingy defense helped the Blues take control of their opening round playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks with a 3-1 victory Monday night. The Blues, who also got a goal and an assist from Pavol Demitra, lead the series 2-1 heading into Game 4 Wednesday night in St. Louis.

MacInnis, the Blues' captain, injured his shoulder on a hit by Todd Bertuzzi in the first period of Game 2 and will be out indefinitely. Without his dominating slap shot on the power play, the Blues improvised with a lineup that often featured four left-handed shooters. They scored once with the man advantage and another time only two seconds after a penalty expired.

The Blues also silenced -- again -- the Canucks' No. 1 line of Bertuzzi, Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison, with Chris Pronger taking MacInnis' spot opposite Barrett Jackman. Naslund was bumped to the second line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin in the third period, with Trevor Linden elevated to the No. 1 line.

Vancouver was held to 14 shots, the team's lowest total since Feb. 20 at St. Louis, when the Canucks also had 14. Marek Malik scored his first career playoff goal on a second-period power play.

The Canucks were 1-for-8 on the power play, totaling six shots. They're 3-for-24 in the series, accounting for all of their goals. Seven of Vancouver's last nine goals, dating to March 29, have come on power plays.

Weight's empty-net goal, his third of the playoffs, wrapped it up with 18.7 seconds left. He had only 15 goals in the regular season.

Both teams had three power plays in a scoreless first period dominated by hits. Blues forward Tyson Nash was helped to the locker room after getting boarded by Daniel Sedin at 13:03, although he looked fine when he returned in the second.

Cory Stillman dangled the puck for several seconds before passing to Demitra for a tap-in at 1:44 of the second for the game's first goal -- just after a high-sticking call on Daniel Sedin expired.

Weight capitalized on a wrestling match in front of the net between teammate Keith Tkachuk and Murray Baron to score from the slot at 10:07, beating Dan Cloutier to make it 2-0. The goal came with Naslund off for holding the stick.

The Canucks managed one shot in the first 11 minutes of the second period and only five overall in the period. But Malik broke the shutout at 18:53, beating Chris Osgood with a high shot from the point.

Noteworthy

Weight, Tkachuk and Scott Mellanby are serving as alternate captains. D Chris Pronger gave up the captaincy on a temporary basis while recuperating from injuries that cost him almost all of the season. ... Demitra leads the Blues with five points in the playoffs. ... MacInnis has 160 points in 176 career playoff games, by far the most on the Blues. The next best is Mellanby with 51 in 125 games. ... The Canucks had the NHL's second-best road record at 23-10-7-1, including a nine-game unbeaten streak.