Ducks @ Blues RECAP: St. Louis Gets the Blues

The Anaheim Ducks were hoping to keep the good times rolling after a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes as they traveled to St. Louis on Thursday night to take on the Western Conference’s best in the Blues. The game featured the return of Joseph Blandisi to the lineup, as he would play left wing on the third line with Antoine Vermette and Ondrej Kase.

The game would end up in Anaheim’s favor, despite the fact that they would be outshot 30-18. Let’s take a look at Kevin Roy and the fanclub that should exponentially grow after tonight.

1st Period

The game started with a physical edge to it as there were a couple big hits in the first couple minutes. The Ducks were able to apply a bit of pressure early on and the Blues took a delay of game penalty, via Jordan Schmaltz sending the puck into the crowd, giving Anaheim the first power play of the night.

The Ducks power play lasted for 1:37 before they went ahead and realized that they were better off not up a man, so they took a too many men penalty to even things up to 4-on-4 for 23 seconds. The 4-on-4 consisted mostly of battles for possession along the boards, and then the Blues power play took over. The Ducks were able to limit the Blues chances on the power play, and thanks to an offsides call, were also able to avoid an odd-man rush in the favor of St. Louis as the penalty expired.

Just over halfway into the 1st period, the Ducks were finally able to get on the board. In the shots on goal section. Yeah, one of those nights.

With 1:34 left in the opening period, Andrew Cogliano was called for hooking against Paul Stastny, giving the Blues their second power play of the night, with their first opportunity having been abbreviated.

The Ducks were able to survive the end of the period and head to the locker rooms tied still at 0-0, with the Blues having a slight advantage in shots on goal by a 6-3 count and 26 seconds remaining on the Andrew Cogliano minor.

2nd Period

The Ducks started the 2nd period with a bit of a fire drill in their own zone, but they were able to successfully kill off the remaining 26 seconds of the St. Louis power play. The two teams would go on to trade a few dangerous chances in the next few minutes, featuring a John Gibson pad-stack save on a partial breakaway from Joel Edmundson and a Rickard Rakell shot that just missed the top corner from an odd-man rush.

Somehow, the Ducks would be the first ones to score a goal in this game, with just their eighth shot on goal. Andrew Cogliano was able to get free in front of the net and jam the puck between the legs of Jake Allen to get the scoring started at the 11:11 mark of the middle frame. 1-0 Anaheim.

Ryan Getzlaf would be the next member of the Ducks to head to the sin bin with just 4:11 remaining in the period, as he was called for hooking against Ivan Barbashev. The Ducks would limit the Blues to just one shot during the power play, and they even recorded a shot of their own, courtesy of a Chris Wagner steal in the offensive zone.

Only seconds after the power play had expired, Brandon Montour was called for tripping and the Blues would immediately head to their fourth power play opportunity of the evening. Dangerous stuff if you only have a 1-0 lead, if you ask me.

Vladimir Tarasenko would rip a shot off the crossbar behind John Gibson with just ten seconds remaining in the period, but the Ducks once again survived the period and escaped with the lead. The Blues would head into the final period of regulation with 32 seconds remaining on their fourth power play of the night. St. Louis still held an advantage in shots on goal, leading 19-10.

3rd Period

Anaheim killed off the remaining half minute of the St. Louis power play to kick off the 3rd period, getting the teams back to full strength once again. The first five minutes of the period were controlled almost exclusively by St Louis. Sustained offensive zone pressure and forced turnovers deep in Anaheim’s zone translated into a couple good opportunities for the Blues, but the they were unable to capitalize.

Naturally, the Ducks would finally get a very small amount of pressure in the St. Louis zone, and Kevin Roy was given a second chance opportunity, which he chipped over the leg pad of Jake Allen to double the Anaheim lead at the 5:43 mark of the final frame in regulation. 2-0 Ducks.

Roy would record his second of the night as a loose puck bounced right to Kevin, who easily slid it into an open net to crack the game open just a bit more at the 8:28 mark. 3-0 Ducks. Seriously though, the Official FanClub for Kevin Roy is open for sign-ups.

The Blues would finally get on the board when Patrik Berglund broke in on a 2-on-1 and beat John Gibson five-hole to bring the Blues within 2. 3-1 Anaheim with 5:53 remaining in regulation.

With just under two minutes remaining in regulation, Jake Allen abandoned the crease to give the Blues a chance with the extra attacker. The Blues needed two in order to force overtime, but the Ducks defense was able to stifle St. Louis for the remaining couple minutes and skate out of Scottrade Center with the 3-1 victory.

All in all, a less than impressive performance that yielded an impressive result and a very important two points in the standings for Anaheim.

The Ducks will be back in action on Saturday evening when they travel to the nation’s capital to take on Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.