Submitted by admin on Sat, 2006-11-25 08:00. ::
One day after the former Detroit Lions quarterback came back with his new team, the Miami Dolphins, and paid back the Motor City for letting him go, the former Red Wings goalie turned the same trick.
Legace, whom the Wings chose not to re-sign in the summer, made 41 saves and stopped both shootout attempts against him to lift the Blues to a 3-2 shootout victory at Joe Louis Arena.
"That's what my relatives (Detroit fans) were bugging me about yesterday," Legace said. "We had a great feast yesterday with my relatives. We were just watching the football game and they were saying, 'Don't you do that tomorrow.'"
On the heels of Wednesday's 4-3 shootout win over Columbus, the Blues have won back-to-back road games for the first time since beating Edmonton in consecutive games before and after the Olympic break last year.
"We've had our share of losses and frustrating losses, too," Blues coach Mike Kitchen said. "I think this should give us a lot of confidence in the way we are playing together out on the ice. We've still got a ways to go yet in some areas of our game. But they're starting to believe in each other a lot more. That's what wins do."
After Petr Cajanek gave the Blues two goals in his first game back from a hip injury, Martin Rucinsky and Doug Weight netted goals in the shootout to send the Red Wings to their fourth straight loss.
"We'll take it ... we'll go home and play Phoenix tomorrow," Rucinsky said. "The team's pulling together now, which is a great sign. You can see the atmosphere in here; guys are working for one another."
Cajanek, who missed three games with the injury, scored two goals to give him four this season. His first goal handed the Blues a 1-0 lead just 1:24 into the second period, and his second gave the team a 2-1 advantage with 12:46 left in the period. Dallas Drake assisted on both goals.
Cajanek nearly had the Blues' first hat trick in three years late in the second period, but Dominik Hasek came up with a save on the doorstep. Doug Weight had the last hat-trick for the Note in 2003 in a 6-5 victory at Detroit.
Cajanek downplayed scoring twice against his fellow countryman from the Czech Republic. "No, I never think like that," Cajanek said. "I just think about our team. I'm really happy we won the game."
The Blues appeared to be on their way to a 2-1 win until Nicklas Lidstrom scored a power-play goal, knotting the score 2-2 with 8:17 left in regulation.
"I think our team defense tonight was excellent, not to mention how well Manny played," Blues defenseman Dennis Wideman said. "He was deflecting shots well, kicking the rebounds out in the corner. Our forwards made it a lot easier on us. They came back really hard and put pressure on them, so we could keep them outside."
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