ST. LOUIS -- Martin Brodeur isn't sure what his future holds with the St. Louis Blues, but he is enjoying the ride.
Brodeur stopped all 16 shots he faced and recorded his NHL-record 125th shutout and 691st victory as the Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 on Monday night.
"This is the first one with the Blues, so it definitely means a lot to me," said Brodeur, who played his first 21 seasons with the New Jersey Devils. "When teams play the way we played today, you play so well you deserve to be rewarded defensively.
"It's our job as goaltenders not to give up anything. It wasn't the hardest game to play, but you still have to make the saves."
The 42-year-old Brodeur turned away eight shots in the first period to keep the game scoreless, including a sliding save on a rebound shot by Nick Holden. He then made three saves in the second and five in the third.
The Blues blocked 11 shots in front of him.
"A shutout is a shutout, and you have to make some saves, but I thought maybe it was one of his easiest ones," said Colorado coach Patrick Roy, who had 66 shutouts during his Hall of Fame playing career.
Jarome Iginla said Brodeur didn't make any mistakes.
"He played well," the Avalanche forward said. "We had some good chances, especially in the first period, and he made some good saves. I thought the first was probably our best period and could have gotten some momentum out of it. Unfortunately it didn't go that way.
"They were able to jump on us in the second, and they dominated the period."
Dmitrij Jaskin and Chris Butler both scored in the second period, with Paul Stastny earning a pair of assists. Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the third for the Blues, who snapped a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) and avenged a 5-0 loss at Colorado on Dec. 23.
Jaskin beat Semyon Varlamov in between his pads for his third goal of the season 28 seconds into the second period, and Butler backhanded a shot over Varlamov's shoulder for his first goal at 4:30 for St. Louis (22-11-3), 13-4-1 at home.
Tarasenko scored his team-leading 22nd goal from the high slot with 4:35 remaining. St. Louis is 18-3 when scoring at least three goals.
The Avalanche (13-14-8) have dropped two straight after going 4-0-2 in their previous six games. Varlamov made 22 saves.
"We didn't play a good game," Roy said. "We were not sharp and we cannot be happy about the performance."
The Blues will begin a four-game road trip on Tuesday at Nashville before heading West. They went 0-2-1 on their most recent trip, including the loss at Colorado.
"I think Colorado got our worst just before Christmas and they got our best today," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said.
Brodeur improved to 3-2 in six games with St. Louis, signing with the Blues to back up youngster Jake Allen after No. 1 goalie Brian Elliott went down with a lower-body injury.
Elliott, who went 8-4-1 with a 1.82 goals-against average and .931 save percentage in 14 games before being injured, is set to return within days.
That could make Brodeur's future with the Blues is uncertain.
Asked about what happens after Elliott returns, Brodeur joked, "I think I'm going to Nashville. I'm not sure.
"I'm enjoying every moment of it, and whenever the decision will be made hopefully I'll be the first to know and I'll be happy or disappointed one way or the other but it's been a great ride," he said.
"If that's my last game, that's not a bad one to leave on, but I don't feel it's going to be. I'm happy to be here and I think they are pretty happy to have me around, too."
NOTES: The Avalanche reassigned F Dennis Everberg and G Calvin Pickard to Lake Erie (AHL), leaving them with just 20 players on the active roster for the game. ... St. Louis reassigned D Petteri Lindbohm to Chicago (AHL). ... Blues F Chris Porter left the game with a lower-body injury in the second period and didn't return. Hitchcock said Porter will be reevaluated in six weeks. . The announced attendance of 19,749 was the Blues' fifth home sellout of the season. . The Avalanche will open a three-game homestand against Philadelphia on Wednesday.
