In St Louis, the Blues fanned the embers of the playoff hopes on Sunday with a 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks.
The Blues hit for three power play goals in the front half of the third period to turn a 1-1 tie game into a 4-1 lead.
Joel Hofer made 26 saves in the win.
The Blues improved to 36-29-3.
“The turnaround, and them being fresher, we slowed the game down too much, and we didn’t need to,” St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. “We could have played with a lot more pace, and I think when you look back at the Minnesota game, the first 40 minutes, we played with a lot of pace. We were direct. We looked like a real fast team. Today, we looked like a slow team.”
Robert Thomas hit for a double on the power play in the third period to bookend a power play strike by Jake Neighbours for the outburst.
“Just more direct,” Thomas said. “I felt like we moved the puck well, just couldn’t finish on those last plays in the first period, and we were able to do that in the third.”
Thomas potted his first of the period at 1:53, scoring off a wrister from the right circle for a 2-1 lead to the Blues.
Neighbours pushed it to 3-1 with a power play strike at 6:12, scoring off a tip in.
“I think it’s effective. It’s tough for a goalie to react when pucks are changing direction right in front of them,” Neighbours said. “I’m trying to get better at it and work at it.
“I’m kind of lucky. I was trying to tip it down and it went up. I’ll take the lucky bounce. That’s ‘Schenner’ just being a smart shooter. He sees it’s the goalie, can’t really see the release and just puts it in a good spot. I got a lucky bounce.”
Thomas collected his double ahead of the midway point for a 4-1 lead.
Troy Terry, who had a double for the Ducks, picked up his second of the night at 19:52 for the 4-2 final count on the scoreboard. .
The Ducks dropped to 23-42-3 off their sixth straight loss.
“I thought we played a good game,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. “I mean, we got them in a back-to-back. I thought we had energy and pop.
“Again, you can’t win a game giving up three power-play goals, right?”
Terry potted his first of the game at 13:41 of the opening stanza, scoring from low in the slot.
“I think 5-on-5 we played a good game,” Terry said. “We’ve got to find a way to limit these penalties.
“It’s just kind of the story for a lot of our games this year.”
St Louis replied in the middle frame with a marker form Kevin Hayes at 14:56 to tie the game, 1-1, scoring from down low in the slot on a wrist shot.
Lukas Dostal made 23 saves in the loss.
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