ST. LOUIS — What amounts to a cut-to-the-chase summary spelled out the difference between the St. Louis Blues and the Ducks on Monday night.
With the game in the balance, one team (the Blues) took advantage of its power-play opportunity in the third period, while the other (the Ducks) failed to capitalize on two power-play chances in the final 20 minutes.
The Ducks (5-13-1) have played 19 games without winning in regulation after dropping another game in St. Louis, losing 3-1 to the Blues at Enterprise Center. They are one game from matching the Arizona Coyotes, who, in 2017, became the first team in NHL history to go 20 games into the season without a win in regulation. In 1999, the Calgary Flames went 19 games at the start of the season before winning in regulation.
The Blues, who have won seven consecutive games, are finding ways to win, grinding this one out, and the Ducks are taking different paths to defeat, dropping six of their last seven. Three of the Ducks’ wins have come in overtime and the other two in shootouts this season.
“At some point, you need to start getting the results,” said defenseman Cam Fowler, who had the Ducks’ lone goal. “We can look at the positives as best we can, but our power play had the chance to put the game away. A couple of opportunities and we didn’t get the job done and they did.
“And that’s the hockey game.”
Said Ducks coach Dallas Eakins: “That’s what the game came down to. I thought it was even 5-on-5. … It just came down to the special teams and they were able to execute and we weren’t.”
What broke the 1-1 tie – with 4:13 left – was Blues defenseman Justin Faulk’s power-play goal from the left circle, beating Ducks goalie John Gibson on the stick side. St. Louis had gone on the power play when Ducks defenseman Dmitry Kulikov went off for tripping at 14:22. Noel Acciari added an empty-netter with 18.5 seconds remaining, his second goal of the night.
The tightly contested game against the Blues was nothing like the first game of this mini-series between the teams, which St Louis won, 6-2, on Saturday behind Pavel Buchnevich’s four-point night.
“A tough loss. We did a lot of good things out there, compared to the last game,” Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg said. “In tight games like this, you know special teams are going to be a big factor.”
The teams traded first-period goals and played a scoreless second. The Ducks couldn’t have gotten off to a much worse start – losing the opening faceoff and allowing a goal in the first 11 seconds, via Acciari – but they managed to collect themselves after a few shaky shifts after the Acciari goal.
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“We were in it the whole time – obviously a terrible start, a bad play on my part,” Fowler said. “Our guys responded and had a really good first period. Slowed down in the second. We’re still looking to improve our second period and manage the puck a little bit better. But we were there every step of the way.
“Tie game and our power play had a couple of opportunities. Those are the times when teams who have an understanding of how to win step up and find a way to score. We’re still learning how to do that.”
The Ducks pulled even with a fortuitous play late in the first period with 18 seconds remaining. It looked like Fowler’s shot was going wide but it went off defenseman Nick Leddy’s leg past Blues goalie Jordan Binnington. Fowler has seven points in his last four games, including goals in back-to-back games here.
“Half the battle in this league is just getting the puck by the first guy,” Fowler said. “There’s always lots of traffic in front of the net. Goalies can’t pick it up. I know I haven’t been doing that to the best of my abilities, so that’s what I’m focusing on a little bit more.”