VIDEO: Blues Edge Ducks; Fowler Injured
By Michael Walters
The Anaheim Ducks started their final road trip of the season against the St. Louis Blues. Jamie Drysdale was out with a lower-injury and listed as day-to-day. Josh Mahura was recalled and got to start. John Gibson was in net against Jordan Binnington.
Game Recap:
There wasn’t much action in the opening period as the teams played mainly a defensive opening period. Trevor Zegras did almost got the Ducks on the board early in this one. He beat Binnington, but hit the post. That was Anaheim’s best chance to score in the opening 20 minutes.
The Blues would get a power play in the second period, when Zegras was called for holding. St. Louis would convert on a goal by Brayden Schenn to take a 1-0 lead.
The Ducks would then answer shortly afterward. After a bad turnover, Ryan Getzlaf would get the puck and break in all alone on Binnington and score.
Anaheim got a power in the second period and almost took the lead. Kevin Shattenkirk beat Binnington, but his shot hit the post. Zegras also rang a shot of the post as well.
The Blues scored early in the third to take the lead on a goal by Robert Bortuzzo. Later in the period, Max Jones and Haydn Fleury had a good sequence, but weren’t able to get the tying goal.
The Ducks pulled Gibson for the extra attacker. Getzlaf saved a goal as he swiped a sliding puck away from the net, but the Blues eventually got another goal in the dying seconds to win 3-1.
Analysis:
The opening period of the game was very mellow with just 11 total shots between the teams. The Ducks played a decent game until the third period. Once St. Louis got the second goal of the game, then they began to control the game more and Anaheim had difficulty getting quality scoring chances down the stretch. It also didn’t help that Anaheim didn’t have Fowler for most of the final period either.
The good news is the Max Comtois, Trevor Zegras, and Troy Terry line looks like it will be a solid line next season. None of the players scored in this contest, but they were able to create chances and Zegras nearly scored twice.
Team Stats/News:
Cam Fowler suffered an upper-body injury to begin the third period. It appeared that Zach Sanford made contact with Fowler’s head. Cam went to the locker room and did not return to the game. He will be re-evaluated today.
What’s Next?
The Ducks will face the Blues one last time on Wednesday at 5 PM PT.
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May 4th, 2021