Anaheim Ducks fall again, this time to St. Louis Blues 4-2 -NHL Update
After managing to barely get their first win of the month of December in the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, the struggling Anaheim Ducks lost their third contest in the past four to the St. Louis Blues which dominated 40 minutes of
the game on Thursday night, at the sold-out Scottrade Center in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States.
Chris Porter scored the opening goal of the night for his second of the season nearly midway through the initial period followed by an equaliser from Anaheim’s, Bobby Ryan, putting him in double figures in scoring.
St. Louis had an opportunity to take the lead once again when Luca Sbisa was booked at the 16:58 mark with a minor penalty for boarding but as Ian Cole broke the tie in the second period, the Blues had more than enough to get them through the match.
T.J Oshies fired off his eighth of the season with less than two minutes remaining to give St. Louis a commanding, 3-1, lead entering the third and final period of regulation.
"I just found out when I came to the rink for the game today," Cole said after scoring his inaugural goal of the season. "They didn't know if (Shattenkirk) was going to go or not. I knew he wasn't feeling well, but it was definitely up in the air until game
time.
Devante Smith-Pelly potted an early goal early in the final period to put Anaheim within one of reach of the score but T.J. Oshie’s second of the night with less than a minute remaining gave St. Louis the lead they needed to secure the contest.
St. Louis goalie, Jaroslav Halak, had a good night by blocking 21 of 23 shots on his net, while his counterpart, Jonas Hiller, faced the same amount of attempts but fell short on three.
"I felt good tonight," Halak said. "I knew I needed to be better for us. I knew I had to make some key saves to keep us in the game. In the second period, I made some key saves there, even for myself to keep me in the game. That was huge for me."
Anaheim has the next against Nashville Predators on Saturday while St. Louis Blues will be looking for their third straight victory against San Jose Sharks on the same day.
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