Pietrangelo scores twice as Blues win in Anaheim

[March 12, 2020]    Alex Pietrangelo scored twice as the visiting St. Louis Blues beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 Wednesday night.

Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (27) celebrates his power play goal scored against the Anaheim Ducks with center Brayden Schenn (10) and center Ryan O'Reilly (90) during the first period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Blues (42-19-10, 94 points) won for the 10th time in 12 games to remain atop the Western Conference.

Zach Sanford also scored for the Blues, and Jake Allen made 26 saves.

Jani Hakanpaa scored for the Ducks (29-33-9, 67 points), who remain in sixth place in the Pacific Division.

With No. 1 goaltender John Gibson injured and Ryan Miller resting after making 40 saves in Anaheim's 5-2 win over Ottawa on Tuesday night, Anthony Stolarz started for the Ducks and stopped 33 of 35 shots.

The contest was the makeup game from a Feb. 11 postponement brought about when Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester suffered a cardiac episode after completing a shift. Medical professionals revived him, and he remains sidelined after an implantable cardioverter defibrillator was placed in his heart.

Per NHL protocol, each team carried over goals scored during the postponed Feb. 11 game -- Ivan Barbashev for the Blues and Adam Henrique for the Ducks. So this game started with a 1-1 score, but a full new 60 minutes was played.

After the start-over, the Blues gained the upper hand in the first period while outshooting the Ducks 16-9.

Pietrangelo put the Blues up 2-1 on with a power-play goal. He hammered a slap shot from straight away off Stolarz, off the post and into the net with 3:52 left in the period.

Hakanpaa tied the game 2-2 with 6:32 left in the second period. His long-range wrist shot from straight away got through traffic and bled though Allen.

That was his first goal in his fifth NHL game.

Sanford restored the Blues' one-goal margin with 2:47 left in the middle period by converting a rebound. The Blues had an extra attacker on the ice during with a penalty call pending against the Ducks.

Pietrangelo's empty-net goal with a minute left to play iced the game.

Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist exited during the third period after taking a big hit along the end boards from David Backes.

--Field Level Media

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