TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues continue to generate positive momentum, beating the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 on Thursday night to earn points in their fourth straight game. Over their last eight games, the Blues' five wins share No. 6 in the NHL.
Detroit got out to a 2-0 lead within the first 90 seconds of Thursday's matchup at Little Caesars Arena, but the Blues perservered for the comeback win. Alexey Toropchenko, Brayden Schenn, Sammy Blais and Jake Neighbours scored unanswered goals to turn the tide in their favor.
"We're playing better hockey," said Schenn. "Better defense, (Joel Hofer) has been playing great for us. There's a lot of things that are going into it - guys are stepping up."
Despite the two early goals, Hofer made 25 saves to earn the win and continue his strong stint since his AHL call-up. In four NHL starts this season, Hofer has a 3-0-1 record with a 1.74 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage.
The Blues continue their three-game road trip with a flight across the country to California, where they'll face the Ducks and the Kings in a weekend back-to-back set.
They'll visit the Ducks with a record of 32-33-6, worth 70 points and sixth in the Central Division.
DUCKS The Anaheim Ducks took their third straight loss on Thursday, falling 3-2 to the Winnipeg Jets as their developmental season winds down.
Cam Fowler scored to give Anaheim the first lead of the game, but the Ducks were unable to mount a comeback once the Jets took the lead halfway through the third period. Fowler's goal marked his 43rd point of the season, setting a new career high in his 13th year with the Ducks.
A bright spot for the Ducks this season has been the play of Mason McTavish, one of the highest-scoring rookies in the NHL this season. The 20-year-old forward only trails Seattle's Matty Beniers atop the rookie leaderboard with 41 points.
Anaheim dealt away two veteran defensemen at the Trade Deadline this year, sending John Klingberg to Minnesota and Dmitry Kulikov to Pittsburgh - each for future assets.
The Ducks will host the Blues for their seventh of eight straight games at Honda Center, their second longest homestand of the season to a 10-game stay in late December.
They'll face the Blues with a record of 23-39-10, worth 56 points and seventh in the Pacific Division. If the season ended ahead of Friday's games, the Ducks would have a 9.5 percent chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues won two consecutive home matchups with the Ducks earlier this season, looking for the season series sweep on Saturday night. The Blues are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games in Anaheim, including an eight-game win streak from March 12, 2018 to March 3, 2021.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Pavel Buchnevich, whose seven points vs. Anaheim lead all Blues over the last two seasons. Buchnevich recorded two goals and two assists against the Ducks in their first matchup this season, one of three four-point games in his career.
DUCKS Trevor Zegras, who leads the Ducks with 58 points this season. The 22-year-old forward has three points in nine career games against the Blues, though is scoreless in two matchups this season.
BLUE NOTES
Jordan Kyrou ranks No. 7 in the NHL with 20 goals in road games this season... Joel Hofer's three wins and 125 total saves both lead the NHL since his season debut on March 17... Robert Bortuzzo recorded his third career multi-point game on Thursday in Detroit, his first since Oct. 19, 2017. Four of Bortuzzo's five points this season have come in his last eight games... Sammy Blais scored his seventh goal of the season in Detroit, all coming in the 20 games since his return to St. Louis at the Trade Deadline. Blais also reached a career-high 16 points this year with the goal, posting 11 since the trade.
As the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks play out their disappointing seasons, their fans can focus on their team's NHL draft lottery odds instead of their playoff chances.
The Blues (32-33-6, 70 points) still have mathematical life in the playoff race heading into Saturday's game in Anaheim. But through Thursday's games they had the ninth-best odds of earning the first overall pick and the right to draft top prospect Connor Bedard.
They hurt their chances in the lottery by going 5-2-1 in their last eight games.
"He's a good player, a special player, but any guy that puts on their (Blues) jersey isn't worried about Connor Bedard," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "That's the reality of being on the team right now."
The Ducks (22-39-10, 56 points) have already been eliminated from postseason play. They had the fourth-best odds of getting Bedard through Thursday's games, after going 1-4-1 in the first six games of their eight-game homestand.
But Anaheim is coming off Thursday's well-played 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, who are fighting to reach the postseason.
"We obviously don't have the playoff race in our minds, but anytime we can create those sorts of situations and be in tight games, I think it's a good thing for us," Ducks defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said.
The Blues are coming off a 4-3 victory in Detroit on Thursday. They won despite playing without defenseman Torey Krug, who stayed home to be with his wife and newborn child, and center Robert Thomas, who missed the game with illness after participating in the pregame warmup.
Both are expected to face the Ducks. In the absence of Thomas, Schenn shouldered the workload as the No. 1 center and took 28 faceoffs.
"He did an excellent job tonight," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "I thought he was a real good player for us. Lot of faceoffs. Played a heavy game. Nice tip goal at the net, being around the net."
Berube is looking for his reconfigured front lines to generate more consistent offensive pressure. Even perimeter shots have value if the Blues are positioned to create screens, tip pucks and convert rebounds.
"I still don't think we're shooting enough pucks," Berube said. "But we've got to keep working on it and get better it. We talked about shooting more pucks from (outside)."
While continuing to build for the future, the Ducks are taking longer looks at some of their younger players. Lukas Dostal got the start in goal against the Jets and made 30 saves.
"He's just dipping his toe in the water here," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "It's important that we really try to get him as many reps as we can, and that's what we're going to try to do down the stretch here."
The Blues won their previous two games against the Ducks at home, 6-2 on Nov. 19 and 3-1 two days later.
Pavel Buchnevich (two goals, three assists), Thomas (goal, three assists), Jordan Kyrou (four assists) and Schenn (goal, two assists) were all productive during those two games.
Goaltender Jordan Binnington won both games for the Blues, who turned to Joel Hofer in their last four games. John Gibson was in net for Anaheim's previous games with the Blues.
