Anaheim @ St. Louis preview
Enterprise Center
Last Meeting ( Nov 19, 2023 ) St. Louis 3, Anaheim 1
The St. Louis Blues are making a late push to get back into the Western Conference playoff race after pulling out of a 3-7-1 downturn.
They edged the visiting Minnesota Wild 3-2 in a shootout Saturday night as their winning streak reached three games. The Blues will try to extend their run when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night.
"We played tonight, so obviously you get some rest here, then come ready tomorrow," Blues winger Jordan Kyrou told Bally Sports Midwest. "It's big game. All these games are huge (with a) big playoff push coming."
The Blues trail the Vegas Golden Knights by four points in the race for the second wild card entering play Sunday.
Blues captain Brayden Schenn snapped an 18-game goal-scoring slump against the Wild and Kyrou scored just his second goal since Feb. 17. Earlier during the winning streak, third-line forwards Kevin Hayes and Kasperi Kapanen broke out of slumps, so fewer Blues are pressing offensively at this point of the season.
"The approach is, don't overtry, don't try too hard to score," Schenn told Bally Sports Midwest. "You just have to stick to the same game plan, keep it simple. If we're playing like we were the last three games, we'll fill the net and goals will go in."
The Ducks have lost five straight games and six of their past seven. They suffered a 6-0 loss on Friday at Winnipeg that wasn't quite as bad as the score indicated.
"It was a tight game for two periods," Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. "It was like 9-6 for scoring chances. It was close in shots. And the third period ... you could feel (the Jets) feeling a little bit more confident. I think they were playing a smart game protecting the lead. Then it's 3-0 and we don't have a full lineup, so for us to come back from a 3-0 lead is difficult."
The Ducks were missing key forward Mason McTavish (lower-body injury) and defenseman Radko Gudas (upper-body injury) in that loss.
The Jets were able to pour it on Ducks goaltender John Gibson to close out the game.
"There's really no excuse for giving up the Grade A (scoring chances) that we did in that third period," Anaheim forward Troy Terry said. "When I say it's unacceptable to give those up, it's mostly to him (Gibson). He's been that guy for us for years now, and he's our backbone and the team kind of runs through him, and it's kind of unfair to leave him out to dry like that. Even just staying out of the box and stop giving up power plays or clearing out in front of him. I mean, some of these he just has no chance, and it's really unfair to him."
The Blues won the previous meeting between the teams 3-1 on Nov. 19 in Anaheim, Calif. Joel Hofer made 30 saves in that game and he is likely to start this one after Jordan Binnington faced the Wild Saturday night.
Pavel Buchnevich, Alexey Toropchenko and Jake Neighbours scored for the Blues in the earlier meeting and McTavish tallied for the Ducks.
--Field Level Media