ST. LOUIS — Ilya Kovalchuk made it a pair of two-goal games to open the season, scoring the go-ahead tally in the first period and adding an empty-netter as the Atlanta Thrashers spoiled the St. Louis Blues’ home opener with a 4-2 victory on Thursday night.

Keith Tkachuk had a goal and an assist and topped 400 points with the Blues, perhaps suffering from jet lag after a pair of come-from-behind victories over the Red Wings in Sweden last weekend. St. Louis, which unveiled a statue honoring Hall of Fame defenseman Al MacInnis before the game, hasn’t had a 3-0 start since 1993-94.

Atlanta has opened with a pair of strong efforts, also beating the Lightning 6-3 at home on Saturday. The Thrashers prevailed despite getting outshot 31-22.

Roman Polak scored on a slap shot from the point with 2:44 to go, cutting the Thrashers’ lead to a goal. But the Blues had no chances after pulling goalie Chris Mason with 1:10 to go. Kovalchuk’s fourth goal of the season ended the comeback bid.

The Thrashers scored on two of their first three shots, wiping out Tkachuk’s goal from the slot just past the 5-minute mark on a 2-on-1 break. Eric Boulton scored his first goal off Chris Thorburn’s feed from behind the net less than 3 minutes later, and Kovalchuk netted the go-ahead score after a nifty move in the slot on a power play at 8:51.

Rookie Evander Kane, the fourth overall pick of this year’s NHL draft, made it a two-goal cushion.