(AP) - Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 37 shots and Jay McClement scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night for their seventh straight home win. Paul Stastny and Cody McLeod also scored for the Avalanche and Matt Hunwick, Kevin Porter and Shane O'Brien each had an assist each. Colorado has won seven consecutive at home for the first time since 2003. Brian Elliott made 19 saves and David Backes and Chris Stewart scored for the Blues, who lost in regulation for just the second time the last 13 games.
(AP) - Andrew Brunette and Patrick Sharp scored 21 seconds apart midway through the second period, and Corey Crawford made 20 saves in his first start in more than two weeks as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 on Wednesday night. Viktor Stalberg scored midway through the third period and Jonathan Toews and Bryan Bickell added late goals for NHL-leading Chicago. The Blackhawks rebounded from a 3-2 loss at Pittsburgh on Tuesday, improving to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. Andrei Kostitsyn scored a power-play goal for Montreal, which lost its fourth straight - including the last three since interim coach Randy Cunneyworth replaced Jacques Martin last Saturday. Crawford hadn't played since being pulled early in the second period of a 4-3 shootout loss to Phoenix on Dec. 5.
