Ducks lose rematch with Blues surge, but show improvement – ​​Orange County Register

ST. LOUIS — The Ducks went 19 games without a win in regulation after losing another game in St. Louis, losing 3-1 to the Blues Monday night at Enterprise Center. They are one game away from facing the Arizona Coyotes, who in 2017 became the first team in NHL history to go 20 games in the season without a regulation win. In 1999, the Calgary Flames played 19 games early in the season before winning in regulation.

The Ducks’ next game is Wednesday night against the New York Rangers at the Honda Center.

The game-winner came late — with 4:13 left — on Justin Faulk’s power-play goal from the left circle, beating Ducks goaltender John Gibson on the stick side. St. Louis had gone on the power play when Ducks defenseman Dmitry Kulikov came out for tripping at 2:22. Noel Acciari added an empty net with 18.5 seconds left, his second goal of the game.

The hotly contested match against the Blues had nothing to do with the opener of this mini-series between the sides, which St Louis won, 6-2, on Saturday behind Pavel Buchnevich’s four-point night.

On Monday, the teams traded goals in the first period and went to a scoreless second. The Ducks couldn’t have got off to a much worse start – losing the opening faceoff and allowing a goal in the first 11 seconds, via Acciari – but they managed to pull themselves together after a few shaky shifts after Acciari’s goal.

The Ducks equalized with a fortuitous play late in the first period with 18 seconds left. It looked like defender Cam Fowler’s shot went too far, but it went through defender Nick Leddy’s thigh past Blues goalkeeper Jordan Binnington.

More to come on this story.