St. Louis opens preseason with 3-1 loss

ST. LOUIS -- Eric Perrin scored twice to lead the Atlanta Thrashers to a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

The Blues' top offseason acquisition, free-agent forward Paul Kariya, got off to a good start by scoring St. Louis' only goal.

Colin Stuart also scored for the Thrashers, and Ondrej Pavelec made 24 saves. Pavelec played the whole game in goal for the Thrashers.

Kariya gave the Blues the lead with a power-play goal, converting a rebound of Eric Brewer's shot at 6:25 of the first. Stuart tied it when he scored a man-advantage goal 7:34 later.

Perrin put the Thrashers on top 2-1 with his first goal at 11:41 of the second period.

-- AP