Blues encounter loss before Olympic break

DENVER -- Recently acquired forward Mike Keane helped set up Dan Hinote's go-ahead goal, and the Colorado Avalanche headed into the Olympic break with a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.

Rookie Radim Vrbata also scored for Colorado, and Greg de Vries had an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Patrick Roy had 33 saves, and St. Louis' Brent Johnson stopped 16.

Hinote's shorthanded goal put Colorado ahead 2-1 at 17:45 of the second period.

Keane, playing in his first game for Colorado after Monday's trade with St. Louis, brought the puck down the left side. After being spun around by a defender, he passed to Adam Foote, whose shot from the right point was redirected in by Hinote.

The Blues pulled Johnson with 1:10 left, and de Vries had the empty-netter 19 seconds later.

Although St. Louis outshot Colorado 15-8 in the first period, the scored was tied at 1.

The Blues' Pavol Demitra scored an unassisted goal just 1:07 into the game. Roy attempted to clear the puck, which deflected off Colorado defenseman Martin Skoula's skate to Demitra, who shot from the right circle.

Vrbata tied it at 13:49 with a rebound goal, his 11th. It was Vrbata's fifth goal in the past four games.

The Blues had a number of scoring chances late in the period, including Demitra's partial breakaway.

Roy stopped Mike Eastwood on a shorthanded breakaway early in the second period.