GDT #50: Blues vs Ducks| 7:00 pm CT | BSMW+, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

The Blues are 23-19-7 against the rest of their division. St. Louis has converted on 22.1% of power-play opportunities, scoring 31 power-play goals.

The Ducks are 16-29-7 against West Division opponents. Anaheim averages 9.0 penalty minutes per game, the ninth-most in the NHL. Nicolas Deslauriers leads the team serving 53 total minutes.

In their last meeting on March 28, Anaheim won 3-2. Max Jones recorded a team-high 2 points for the Ducks.

TOP PERFORMERS: Ryan O'Reilly leads the Blues with 22 goals and has 48 points. Mike Hoffman has seven goals over the last 10 games for St. Louis.

Rickard Rakell leads the Ducks with 18 total assists and has 26 points. Maxime Comtois has 7 points over the last 10 games for Anaheim.

LAST 10 GAMES: Blues: 6-3-1, averaging four goals, 6.9 assists, 3.1 penalties and 7.6 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game with a .907 save percentage.

Ducks: 4-6-0, averaging 2.3 goals, four assists, 3.6 penalties and 8.1 penalty minutes while allowing 2.6 goals per game with a .916 save percentage.

INJURIES: Blues: Mackenzie MacEachern: out (upper body), Vladimir Tarasenko: day to day (lower body), Torey Krug: day to day (upper body), Vince Dunn: day to day (upper body), Carl Gunnarsson: out for season (lower body), Oskar Sundqvist: out for season (knee).

Ducks: Jakob Silfverberg: out (lower body).

[WaukeeBlues]

Need a clean win here, let's take care of business.

Backes been (expectedly) talking candidly about "more than probable" or something like that about retiring at the end of the year. Any word if he's suiting up against the Blues here towards the end?

[Robb_K]

I thought Walman was going to score there!

[theohall]

The winless clown jerseys?? Seriously??? I thought the Blues were done with those.

[Robb_K]

The Blues are not giving anywhere near their best effort. Against this very weak team, they feel as if they can just go through the motions. But, just needing a few wins to clinch the playoffs, they should try to get those wins in the easiest way possible, by bearing down early against weak teams and putting them away.

[Robb_K]

Not a very impressive period for The Blues. They'd better start playing in The 2nd.

[Robb_K]

Schenn scores the PP goal, on a well-timed pass from Schwartz!!!! Blues open the scoring!!!! But even as I type this, The Blues have a turnover and give one right back! BOOOOOOO!!!!

[Robb_K]

Not a good period for The Blues. They'd better play all out in The 3rd, at this easiest chance to get 2 points. Two wins vs, The Ducks will put them within 1 point of sealing the playoff spot.

[Robb_K]

Duplicate post

[Robb_K]

Bortuzzo, right in front of the goal, takes the pass from Kyrou, behind the net, and makes no mistake!!! He bats it right in!!! Blues lead2-1!!!

[Robb_K]

O'Reilly seals it with a nifty lob shot for the empty=netter!!!! Blues Magic Number down to 3!!! A win in a couple days will all but seal the deal!!!

[gaijin]

The winless clown jerseys?? Seriously??? I thought the Blues were done with those.

You're thinking of the reverse retro jerseys- the predominantly red ones. Those are the winless abominations.

The real 90s clown jersey (blue with red at the bottom) actually have decent luck, IIRC. Looks like that held last night.

[WaukeeBlues]

The winless clown jerseys?? Seriously??? I thought the Blues were done with those.

You're thinking of the reverse retro jerseys- the predominantly red ones. Those are the winless abominations.

The real 90s clown jersey (blue with red at the bottom) actually have decent luck, IIRC. Looks like that held last night.

The lasting image in my memory of the red clown jerseys is Gunner being taken off the ice with a torn knee...

[WaukeeBlues]

Ducks came out flying (no pun intended). They played fast and hard all game, it was a pretty wide open affair. Entertaining. Blues settled in and got the W so I guess all that matters but man if one or two of those posts the Ducks hit goes in, whole different ballgame. Fortunate to get the W there.

Special teams made a big difference this game. That Thomas-Kyrou-Hoffman line is sick.