Preview: Ducks at Blues

[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."

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.

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

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