Rakell scores 30th in Ducks' win over Blues
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Rickard Rakell and Ryan Getzlaf scored goals to give the Anaheim Ducks a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night at the Honda Center.
Goaltender Jonathan Bernier stopped 26 shots for his fourth successive win as the Ducks (37-23-10) used their fourth victory in five games to take over second place in the Pacific Division by two points over the Calgary Flames.
Ivan Barbashev scored for the Blues (36-28-5), who received 20 saves from goalie Jake Allen.
St. Louis, which had its five-game winning streak ended, remains two points behind the third-place Nashville Predators in the Central Division, and four ahead of the Los Angeles Kings in the race for the final wild-card spot.
Rakell's 30th goal gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead 5:42 into the game. St. Louis defenseman Jay Bouwmeester passed from the right corner in Anaheim's zone but Getzlaf deflected the puck to Rakell, who swept a rising shot under the crossbar while in front of the crease.
That shot enabled Rakell to score in his third consecutive game, and gave him eight goals in nine games.
The Blues had a chance to tie the score on a power play about four minutes later. But a wide-open Alexander Steen hit the left post with his wrist shot from the top of the right circle.
Getzlaf extended the lead to 2-0 with a short-handed goal 6:37 into the second period.
While skating down the right wing, Anaheim's Andrew Cogliano lost control of the puck. Barbashev tried to secure it by extending his stick but failed. Cogliano regained control and tapped a soft pass to Getzlaf, who fired a rising wrist shot from the top of the slot into the upper-left corner of the net for his 14th goal.
Getzlaf has 19 points (six goals) in his past 14 games.
Barbashev ended Bernier's bit for a shutout with 9:52 to play by redirecting Magnus Paajarvi's back-handed pass across the front of the crease inside the left post for his third goal.
NOTES: St. Louis scratched RW Dimitrij Jaskin, LW Jake Sanford and D Jordan Schmaltz. Blues coach Mike Yeo said after Wednesday's morning skate that Jaskin will be out for at least a week with an upper-body injury. ... Blues G Jake Allen needs one victory to pass Jaroslav Halak and rank sixth in career wins for the club. ... Blues LW Alexander Steen needs one point for 400 in his tenure with the team and one goal to pass Jorgen Pettersson and move into ninth place on the club's all-time list with 162. ... Anaheim scratched G John Gibson, RW Ondrej Kase, D Brandon Montour and RW Logan Shaw. ... Ducks LW Rickard Rakell shares first place in the NHL with nine game-winning goals. ... Ducks C Ryan Getzlaf needs one point for 800 in his career.