ANAHEIM, Calif. – Honda Center has been the next best thing to home for the Blues lately. They won all for games here last season, and had won eight in a row overall on the frozen Duck pond entering Sunday’s contest.
But the streak ended Sunday, when a noticeably improved Anaheim team turned back the Blues 4-1 before a light crowd of 12,056. The Blues had a chance to match the 2002-03 squad for the best 10-game start in franchise history at 8-1-1.
Instead, they fell to 7-2-1 on the season and 1-1-1 on this four-game road trip, which concludes Tuesday in Winnipeg against the Jets. Anaheim improved to 6-4-3.
In their first game here last season, it took the Blues only 20 seconds to score their first goal (by Jordan Kyrou).
They were even quicker this time around with Brandon Saad scoring just 13 seconds into the proceedings.
Just as Anaheim was trying to escape the St. Louis zone, Colton Parayko used that long reach of his to keep the puck in and poke it over to David Perron in the right circle. Perron sent it cross ice to Saad who slid it through the 5-hole of Ducks goalie John Gibson with a quick release for a 1-0 lead.
Saad scored twice Thursday night in San Jose.
The Blues had several prime chances to pad their lead but had to settle for that 1-0 advantage after one. Less than eight minutes in, Ivan Barbashev and Klim Kostin raced down the ice on a 2-on-1. Barbashev passed to Kostin on right wing, but Kostin’s low shot hit the post.
Later in the period, Kyrou skated in alone on Gibson but shot high. Less than a minute later, Robert Thomas deked around an Anaheim defender with only Gibson between him and the net. But Thomas’ shot deflected off the goalie’s stick.
Anaheim’s best chance in the period came less than five minutes in on a Derek Grant breakaway. Grant had his one and only NHL hat trick two years ago in St. Louis (Nov. 16, 2019) with Jordan Binnington in net that night. (The third goal was an empty-netter.)
On Sunday, Grant tried to go 5-hole on Binnington with a little backhand action, but was denied.
For Kostin, it was more of the same in the second period. In other words, more iron. This time, however, it wasn’t a post; it was a crossbar. But same result – off the iron and not in the net.
The all-Russian line of Kostin, Barbashev and Pavel Buchnevich – should we call them the KBB? – was effective all night. But Gibson was both lucky and good.
The Ducks were just plain good, and the Blues a little lackadaisical, about six minutes later to tie the game at 1-1. Grant was skating down left wing and suddenly found himself open when Kostin slipped and fell in the St. Louis zone.
Grant skated in, drawing all eyes on him, and in blasted Sam Carrick from the opposite side – past three Blues and through the backdoor for a tap-in and his third goal of the season at the 8:23 mark. Binnington had no chance.
The Blues had the overall edge in play in the period and got their first power-play opportunity of the night when Ryan Getzlaf was called for cross-checking Justin Faulk with just 57.4 seconds left in the second. There was a nice little multi-player scrum as play was stopped after Kostin slammed Simon Benoit into the boards.
Kostin is no wallflower on the ice.
In the Blues’ first power-play of the season without Torey Krug (COVID list) and with Faulk running the first unit, Perron sent a rocket from the right circle at Gibson. But Gibson had his glove ready, and the Blues took the final 62 seconds of the power play into the third period with the score still tied at 1-all.
St. Louis couldn’t do a whole lot with those 62 seconds at the start of the third period. But Anaheim did on its second power play of the night. At the 2:18 mark of the third, Thomas was set off for hooking Cam Fowler, and Troy Terry continued his red-hot start to give Anaheim the lead.
Terry found an open spot on the ice between a triangle of Blues defenders in front of the net and banged home a pin-point pass from Sonny Milano, just 28 seconds into the power play. The goal extended Terry’s point streak to 11 games (eight goals, six assists), the longest streak in the NHL this season.
The Ducks didn’t stop there. Less than six minutes later it became a 3-1 lead for the Ducks when Sam Steel – left alone in front of the net by Calle Rosen, who was making his Blues debut - deflected in a Hampus Lindholm shot from the left point with 11:29 remaining.
As the game wound down, Gibson became more good than lucky. The Blues sent at lot at him down the stretch, pulling Binnington for an extra attacker with more than five minutes remaining. That’s right, more than five minutes remaining.
But whether it was his glove, his stick, his skate, his body, Gibson got in the way. The Blues ended up with 35 shots on goal, and only that Saad shot 13 seconds in got by him.
After all that time with an extra attacker for the Blues, Benoit-Olivier Grouix finally got the Blues with 48 seconds left with an empty-netter – his first NHL goal.
