Greeting Is Cold One for Keenan’s Return

The St. Louis Blues got back at their old coach.

Checking-line winger Scott Pellerin scored twice off setups from Craig Conroy as the Blues made Mike Keenan’s first return to St. Louis since being fired a year ago a miserable experience with a 5-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.

Keenan was booed throughout the game. He wasn’t surprised.

“Well, I was booed when I was coaching here,� he said. “So that isn’t something new for me. It was so acrimonious when I left anyway, so it couldn’t be any worse than it was.�

Keenan took some of the credit, considering he acquired Pellerin and Conroy.

“Hopefully, one day they’ll respect some of the things I did when I was here,� Keenan said.

New York Rangers 3, Phoenix 1--The Rangers got the early jump at home for a change and held on to break an eight-game winless streak.

Wayne Gretzky suffered a bruised left knee in action against the mid-ice boards in the final three minutes. Gretzky left the game with 2:27 remaining, leaving the Rangers to wrap up their first victory since a 4-3 win over Carolina on Nov. 21.

The injury was not believed to be serious, according to the Rangers.

Toronto 3, Dallas 0--Mats Sundin scored twice and Felix Potvin stopped 19 shots at Toronto as the Maple Leafs stopped Dallas’ winning streak at seven games.

Sundin scored his 10th and 11th goals and Potvin recorded his first shutout this season.

Montreal 4, Colorado 2--Andy Moog stopped 23 shots at Montreal and won for the first time since Nov. 8.