Although the Anaheim Ducks game into St. Louis 18-2-2 in their last 22 games, the Blues had a streak of their own that they planned to extend.
After one period of play, St. Louis outshot Anaheim 12 to 9, but neither team registered a goal.
Ryan Kesler found the puck in between the hashmarks, and he managed to throw a shot on net. Jake Allen made the initial save, but Ryan Getzlaf knocked the puck out of midair and into the Blues’ net.
About 10 minutes later, Robby Fabbri dropped the puck for Carl Gunnarsson at the point. Gunnarsson, who just signed an $8.7 mil/3 years contract with the Blues, had time to wind-up a slapshot. With everybody in front of the net, Paul Stastny slid away from the craziness, and Gunnarsson found him with a shot-pass. Stastny tipped in his 7th goal of the season to tie it at 1-1.
Then there were five goals scored in the third period.
The STL line struck first after Vladimir Tarasenko pressered a Duck in the corner. He knocked the puck behind the net to Jaden Schawrtz. Schwartz looked up and found Jori Lehtera open in front, and he buried it to give the Blues a 2-1 lead 1:55 into the third.
Just 1:06 later, the Ducks turned the puck over in their defensive zone. Patrick Berglund was in the right place at the right time as the puck shot out to him. While on-the-move, Berglund slapped the knuckle-puck past Frederik Andersen to extend the lead to 3-1.
Like most recent Blues games, the opposing team scored with less than 6 minutes left in regulation.
Rickard Rakel put a shot on net late in the third, but as a Blues player tried to clear it out of the zone, it bounced off of Kyle Brodziak and into the net.
Vladimir Tarasenko has been playing with so much heart lately. I know he hasn’t been scoring like he used to, but I can see it in his eyes. He wants to score every game. You can see it in his celebration. It’s a bummer he didn’t score last… Wait the game isn’t over.
With less than three minutes left in regulation, Tarasenko recovered a Ducks mishandle in their own zone. He walked in and fired a wristshot past Andersen to make it 4-2. The goal was his 31st of the season.
