Blues Beat Ducks 6-2, Extend Playoff Push

The St. Louis Blues secured a 6-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, keeping their faint Western Conference playoff hopes alive while extending Anaheim's losing streak to four games.

Dylan Holloway scored twice on the power play for St. Louis, which improved to 32-31-12 with 76 points and moved within three points of the final wildcard spot with seven games remaining. Robert Thomas contributed a goal and two assists, while Pius Suter and Colton Parayko each added a goal and an assist. Jonatan Berggren also scored for the Blues, who outshot Anaheim 29-27. Goaltender Joel Hofer made 25 saves to anchor the win.

For the Ducks, who fell to 41-30-5 and remain tied with Edmonton atop the Pacific Division at 87 points but hold the tiebreaker disadvantage, Ryan Poehling tallied a goal and an assist, and Jeffrey Viel added a goal. Lukas Dostal stopped 23 shots in net, but defensive lapses and injuries hampered Anaheim's efforts. The team dressed only 18 healthy skaters, missing key players including 38-goal scorer Cutter Gauthier (day-to-day, upper body), Radko Gudas (day-to-day, lower body) and Pavel Mintyukov (day-to-day, lower body).