OVERCOMING THE BLUES

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues are in such a miserable rut, they're scoring into their own net.

Jim Vandermeer scored two goals, one tapped in by a hapless opponent, to help the Chicago Blackhawks run the Blues' franchise-record losing streak to 10 with a 4-2 victory on Thursday night.

``You could say when it goes it goes,'' said Blues forward Mark Rycroft, whose first-period gaffe fueled the latest setback. ``This definitely isn't something we needed in the midst of this losing streak.

``It's not feeling too good right now, I'll tell you that.''

Mark Bell also scored for the Blackhawks, who have won two straight for the first time in 41 games. They're near the bottom of the NHL with 12 points, five more than the league-worst Blues, including an overtime victory in St. Louis on Nov. 2.

So coach Trent Yawney had no trouble containing his excitement.

``It's only two wins in a row,'' Yawney said. ``We've got a long ways to go. They don't want to keep going the way they're going so it was a good test for our team and our guys answered the bell.''

The losing streak for the Blues, who were stripped down before the season to help team owners sell the franchise, is two games longer than the previous worst. Their 2-11-3 start is their worst since 1977-78 when they were 2-10-2. They've been outscored 46-25 since their last victory on Oct. 19 and were unsuccessful on three 5-on-3 power plays, one negated by Scott Young's holding penalty 11 seconds later.

``Obviously, we need to score in that situation,'' forward Jamal Mayers said. ``The pucks are finding a way not to go in.''

Vandermeer's fourth goal of the season, a shot from the point through traffic midway through the second period, put the Blackhawks ahead to stay at 3-2. He got credit for an unassisted goal midway through the first when Rycroft accidentally tapped the puck past surprised goalie Patrick Lalime while trying to skate it out of trouble.

``You hope nobody sees that,'' Vandermeer said. ``I was definitely surprised, but I'll take it, you know.''

Rycroft scored one for the Blues, too, and Doug Weight also scored on a deflection that ended a 2-for-26 power-play slump.

Rycroft's rebound shot at 3:07 of the first period gave the Blues the game's first goal for the first time in five games, after they had trailed 2-0 in each of the last four. But Bell tied it 11 seconds later with a wrist shot on a power play. Chicago then took the lead on Rycroft's mistake at 10:45.

Rycroft noted ruefully that ``I had two wide-open nets tonight.''

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