Vancouver, British Columbia (My Sportsbook) - The St. Louis Blues try to skate home with a two games to none series lead tonight when they take on the Vancouver Canucks in Game 2 of their Western Conference quarterfinal set at GM Place.

St. Louis pounded the normally potent Canucks, 6-0, in Thursday's series opener. Chris Osgood, considered a question mark entering the series, made 20 saves for his 10th career playoff shutout, while defenseman Alex Khavanov paced things at the other end with a pair of goals. Doug Weight and Tyson Nash each posted a goal and an assist for St. Louis, while Cory Stillman and Keith Tkachuk also found the back of the net.

"That game epitomizes a total team effort," Osgood said. "We had great back pressure and smothered them and didn't give them any room."

St. Louis, which played tremendous neutral zone defense last first round St. Louis, which played tremendous neutral zone defense last first round against Chicago, stifled Vancouver on Thursday. The Canucks' top line of Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison was limited to four shots ts on goal, none off the stick of Bertuzzi. This is the same trio that accounted for 119 of the team's 264 goals during the regular season.

The unit struggled during last year's series with Detroit as well, raising some eyebrows.

"There is pressure all season long and it is magnified this time of year," Morrison said. "We realize we didn't have a stellar playoff last year and we want to make amends. [Thursday], it didn't get off to a good start."

Also failing to deliver was Canucks' goaltender Dan Cloutier, who had his share of doubters entering the playoffs. Cloutier, who did suffer a knee injury late in the season, allowed six goals on 29 shots. In his defense, St. Louis did convert three of its nine power-play opportunities on the night.

The Canucks now have anything but momentum on their side. The loss in the opener came on the heels of a home defeat to Los Angeles in the regular season finale when all they needed was one point to wrap up the Northwest Division title. Also weighing on Vancouver is the fact that they have not won a home playoff game since April 22, 1996 against Colorado, a span of seven games.

St. Louis, meanwhile, is saying all the right things, knowing the Canucks could be a sleeping giant.

"The one thing in the playoffs is, win or lose, after that's over it really doesn't matter," Blues defenseman Al MacInnis said. "We know how quickly in the playoffs momentum can change. It can change in a shift. It can change with a shot. It can change from period to period and game to game. So you just kind of put it aside."

Game 3 will be played Monday night at the Savvis Center in St. Louis.