Ducks rally before losing shootout to the Blues – Press Enterprise

ANAHEIM –– The Ducks erased three deficits against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday at Honda Center, but ultimately fell short 6-5 in a shootout.

Rookie Leo Carlsson and All-Star Frank Vatrano each lit the lamp twice for Anaheim, with Nikita Nesterenko adding a goal. Trevor Zegras, Alex Killorn and Isac Lundeström all handed out two assists. Lukáš Dostál stopped 26 shots.

Top scorer Robert Thomas paced St. Louis with a goal and three assists. Captain Brayden Schenn contributed a goal and an assist. Zachary Bolduc, Pavel Buchnevich and Matthew Kessel each scored a goal. Jordan Kyrou had three assists before scoring the only goal in the shootout. Jordan Binnington made 33 saves.

“It was a good atmosphere, it was a great match and we finished on the right side. But I liked the way we came back, I liked the way we responded and played that game,” Vatrano said.

The shootout opened with a skyward backhand attempt from Zegras hitting the post. Kyrou had no such problems on his own backhand, which became the winner in a shootout.

Overtime was played with vigor and two solid chances almost ended for Olen Zellweger, who was checked, and Troy Terry, whose short side shot into the dying embers almost earned the Ducks a second point.

Carlsson tied the score at five with 3:51 left when he drove to the inside edge of the right circle to fire a snapshot inside the left post for the 19-year-old’s 12th goal of the season .

“When he gets the puck, he’s trying to score a goal, whether it’s with his stick or someone else scores the goal, he just has that mentality,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “When he plays, you see it. The first two periods he was just fine. In the third period, he said to himself: “I’m taking control of the game” and he did.

Vatrano scored his second goal of the night and his 32nd of the season, adding intrigue to the final 11:56 of regulation time. Zegras pushed two pawns behind the net, leaving him draped over the nylon with his left arm swinging against the cage. With only his right arm on his stick, he shoveled the puck past Vatrano, who slammed it against his stick and backhanded it.

“He’s a very unique player because he sees the ice so well,” Cronin said of Zegras. “Someone pointed out to me that he reminded him a little of Magic Johnson, his teammates would sometimes get hit in the head with the basketball because they weren’t ready for the pass.”

The Ducks gained momentum earlier, but then gave it back immediately in the first 2:40 of the third period.

Just 49 seconds after scoring on the power play, Vatrano took an interference penalty and the Blues kept the Ducks at arm’s length on Schenn’s two-shot power play goal.

Just 62 ticks into the final quarter, the Ducks cut their deficit in half with a power play. Terry fed Lundeström in the low zone, where his spread on a one-timer proved fortuitous as the puck flew to Carlsson at the far post for a strike total, his 11th. Carlsson has three goals in his last two games, but his most recent goal before that was uncomfortably nestled between droughts of nine and 22 games.

“It feels like a ‘finally’ moment,” Carlsson said. “It’s amazing to score goals again.”

“(GM Pat Verbeek), Cro, my dad, my mom, everyone tells me to shoot the puck more. For now, it’s working,” he added.

Despite compelling underlying numbers for the Ducks, the Blues led 4-2 at the second intermission.

With 4:10 left in the second period, the Blues got an insurance goal thanks to a moderately paced fast break that led to Buchnevich’s one-timer.

St. Louis regained the lead just over two minutes early, taking advantage of a power play. Thomas received the puck near the right wall before sliding to the top of the right faceoff dot and firing a shot through Schenn’s screen.

The Ducks found their second equalizer of the evening at 3:41 of the second period. Killorn took the puck to the net and his backhand stayed inside the blue paint. Vatrano put his stick on the puck before Binnington hit it with his glove. Vatrano was credited with the goal and Killorn with his 500th career point.

While Cronin praised Killorn’s composure, he said Vatrano has become his team’s most reliable player.

“He does everything hard,” Cronin said. “He blocks shots, he kills penalties, he’s on the power play, he backs up harder than anyone on our team and he gets rewarded for that because he scores goals.”

The visitors went into the locker room with a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes thanks to a late-period breakaway save on Ryan Strome by Binnington and, before that, Kessel’s first career goal.

Terry’s giveaway inside the offensive blue line nearly failed after Schenn mishandled a pass in the neutral zone, but the Blues got the run back as Thomas found a trailing Kessel for a shot under the crossbar and inside the second post.

The Ducks had tied it 2:37 into a sequence where Nesterenko outplayed towering defenseman Colton Parayko, starting with a board battle that gave the Ducks possession and ending with a powerful effort to beat Parayko on the rebound by Gustav Lindström before overtaking him. Binnington. Nesterenko’s second career goal came against the same team that conceded their first on March 25, 2023.