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BOSTON (AP) -- The St. Louis Blues are having the most successful regular season in franchise history.
Now they're setting their sights on bigger things.
|  | | St. Louis' Scott Young fires the eventual game-winning goal past Boston goalie John Grahame. |
"This is one of those years where you have a number of things going right," coach Joel Quenneville said the Blues beat Boston 3-2 on Thursday night to earn their club-record 108th point. "But regular-season records have a tendency to be forgotten."
Jochen Hecht scored twice and Roman Turek stopped 20 shots for St. Louis, which extended its lead to three points over Detroit in the race for the NHL's best regular-season record. The Blues have already clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
"If you play well in the regular season, you go to the playoffs with confidence," Turek said. "Everyone in this locker room is playing with confidence now."
As well they should be.
The Blues improved to 43-0-0 when scoring three or more goals. They also snapped a two-game winless streak; they have not gone more than three games without a victory all season.
"From start to finish, they have been the most consistent team in the NHL," Bruins defenseman Don Sweeney said. "They roll it over from one line to the next."
Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov scored for Boston, and John Grahame made 33 saves. The Bruins are 0-3-1 in their last four games, and have not beaten St. Louis in seven tries since Nov. 18, 1995.
Thornton made it 1-0 at the 6:47 mark of the first period when he picked up a loose puck on the left side of the goal, stickhandled in front and backhanded it in. It was his team-leading 57th point and his 22nd goal of the season, tying him for the team lead with the injured Anson Carter.
Hecht tied it at 15:16 of the first when he knocked in the puck after Grahame failed to kick it away.
St. Louis made it 2-1 at 14:34 of the second when Grahame blocked Stephane Richer's slap shot, but left the puck sitting in the crease. With the goalie looking around for the puck, Sweeney kicked the puck loose and Hecht tapped it in.
Michal Handzus pulled Grahame and the lone defender out of position before sliding it over to Scott Young, who had an open net to shoot at. His 21st goal of the season made it 3-1 with 4:37 gone in the third period.
Samsonov beat Turek with his 19th of the season at the 8:44 mark of the third to make it 3-2. But the goalie stopped Samsonov from point-blank range with 2:40 left in the game to preserve the victory.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
St. Louis Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Pittsburgh 4
Washington 3
St. Louis 3
Boston 2
Tampa Bay 6
Ottawa 3
Chicago 4
Toronto 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 John Grahame makes a tremendous save.
avi: 737 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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