Ducks hold off Blues
ST. LOUIS -- Antoine Vermette scored two goals and John Gibson stopped 37 of 39 shots to lead the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) by the Ducks and came two days after they lost 7-3 in Chicago.
Gibson allowed four goals on 22 shots in that game before he was pulled in the middle of the second period. He bounced back to stop the first 36 shots by the Blues.
But Blues Kyle Brodziak ruined Gibson's bid for his first shutout of the season with 3:48 left in the game. Brodziak scored again with 17 seconds left to pull the Blues within 3-2.
Vermette's first goal came 4:17 into the first period when a shot by Kevin Roy hit off the crossbar and then deflected off Vermette into the net. The play was reviewed, but the goal was allowed to stand.
In the second period, the Ducks increased the lead to 3-0 with two power-play goals, both coming when Patrik Berglund was in the penalty box.
Roy scored just 33 seconds into the period on a penalty that carried over from the end of the first period before Vermette added his second of the night at 3:01.
Vermette had scored only three goals in the Ducks' first 24 games.
The two power-play goals were the third and fourth allowed by the Blues in a span of six penalties during their last two games.
Jake Allen gave up the three goals on 30 shots as the Blues lost for the second time in their last six games. Allen had been 5-0 in his career at home against the Ducks, allowing a total of seven goals.
The Blues' two best scoring chances in the first two periods came when Vladimir Tarasenko hit the crossbar on a two-on-one in the first period and when Gibson stopped a breakaway by Jaden Schwartz midway through the second.
NOTES: The Blues activated C Patrik Berglund from injured reserve. He missed the first 24 games of the year because of a dislocated shoulder. To make room for Berglund on the roster, the Blues placed D Nate Prosser on waivers. He had been a healthy scratch in 23 of the team's first 24 games. ... Berglund took the spot of C Oskar Sundqvist in the lineup. ... The injury-ravaged Ducks were without another player, D Brandon Montour, who suffered a hyperextended elbow in Monday night's loss in Chicago. ... Recent Hall of Fame inductee Paul Kariya, who played for both the Blues and Ducks, was honored in a pregame ceremony.