Preview: Ducks at Blues
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[March 10, 2017]
The Anaheim Ducks attempt to
maintain their hold on second place in the Pacific Division when
they visit the St. Louis Blues on Friday night. Anaheim moved two
points ahead of Edmonton (which has one game in hand) and Calgary
with Thursday's impressive 1-0 triumph at Chicago.
Corey Perry scored the lone goal against the Blackhawks to end his
10-game drought while Jonathan Bernier posted a 43-save shutout for
his 100th career victory, but the Ducks were limited to one goal for
the sixth time in their last 10 contests. St. Louis returns home
after edging Minnesota 2-1 on Tuesday to conclude a 2-1-0 road trip
and post its second straight victory following a five-game slide
during which it scored a total of six goals. Vladimir Tarasenko
scored his team-leading 29th goal to halt a five-game drought as the
Blues earned coach Mike Yeo a victory over the club that fired him
in February of 2016. St. Louis is in the thick of the playoff race
in the Western Conference, sitting one point ahead of Los Angeles
for the second wild card and four behind Nashville for third place
in the Central Division.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Anaheim), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (35-22-10): Anaheim will be without Nick Ritchie for
a second straight game as the left wing did not travel with the team
for its two-game trek due to a case of whiplash he suffered in a
collision during Tuesday's shootout win over Nashville. The
21-year-old Ritchie, who has recorded 12 goals and 12 assists in 64
contests, entered Thursday ranked sixth in the league with 209 hits.
"He wasn't feeling right, so with today's protocol, you're very
(cautious) of the symptoms he was having," coach Randy Carlyle told
the team's website. "We decided to leave him at home. There's no use
bringing a player that doesn't have a chance to play."
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ABOUT THE BLUES (33-27-5): St. Louis has had plenty
success against Anaheim of late, going 3-0-1 in the last four
overall meetings while winning three straight and nine of its last
12 home matchups. The Blues have struggled at Scottrade Center
recently, however, losing seven of their last nine. Defenseman Alex
Pietrangelo has notched an assist in three of his last four games
and is one away from passing Adam Oates (228) for 12th place on the
franchise list.
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OVERTIME
1. Blues C Patrik Berglund, who scored twice in a 2-1 overtime
victory over Anaheim on Jan. 15, is two tallies shy of his third
career 20-goal season and first since recording a personal-best 22
in 2010-11.
2. Anaheim C Ryan Kesler is two assists away from 300 in the NHL.
3. St. Louis LW Jaden Schwartz and C Jori Lehtera need three points
to reach 200 and 100, respectively, for their careers.
PREDICTION: Blues 3, Ducks 2 [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
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