Ryan Getzlaf has scored three regulation goals in 36 games this season and Friday night he added a game-winner in the skills competition to help the Anaheim Ducks edge the St Louis Blues, 4-3.
It was Getzlaf’s first shootout attempt of the season.
John Gibson stopped 25 in win over Blues – file photo by Brent Clark
Ryan Kesler had two goals in the game as the Ducks rallied from a 3-1 second period deficit.
“I thought my line had been generating a lot and playing well, we just hadn’t got the puck luck,” said Kesler, who has four goals in his past four games after scoring four times in his first 36. “But tonight we started to get it.”
Corey Perry started the Ducks’ rally with a late goal in the second after the Blues reeled off three straight in the middle frame.
The Blues had a difficult time matching lines and finding bodies after the first period when both Paul Stastny and Jay Bouwmeester left the game with upper body injuries and Jake Allen left the game in the second period.
“This was a playoff game. This was a sudden-death, elimination playoff game,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “One of the grittiest efforts by our team all year and I’m sure they’ve got to be pretty proud of their effort too. It was a [heck] of a hockey game.
“We ran out of bodies and they had a little bit more in the tank at the end. We pushed them so hard we nearly pushed them out of the building in the second period. And then they came back and pushed us.”
Ryan Reaves, Troy Brouwer and Robby Fabbri scored for the Blues in the middle frame.
“We sort of took our foot off the gas little bit,” Fabbri said. “We did a good job there trying to hold them off for the rest of the game, but we need to make sure that we’re coming out and matching them.”
That slight let up on the gas gave the Ducks an opportunity.
“The big thing was getting the goal (Perry’s) near the end of the second period,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “When they came in to the dressing room, they weren’t with their heads down. They were angry, defiant and determined. The third period was pretty good for us.”
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