Robert Bortuzzo’s first goal of the season proved to be the game-winner as the St. Louis Blues defeated the visiting Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Monday night.
Brayden Schenn and Ryan O’Reilly also scored, Justin Faulk had two assists, and Jordan Binnington made 19 saves for the Blues (24-19-7, 55 points), the fourth-place team in the West Division.
Ryan Getzlaf scored, and John Gibson made 29 saves for the last-place Ducks (16-30-7, 39 points).
Bortuzzo scored his first goal in his 34th game this season to give the Blues a 2-1 lead at 2:13 of the third period. He found room in the slot and scored off a pass from behind the net from Jordan Kyrou.
O’Reilly scored his 23rd goal of the season into an empty net with nine seconds left to make it 3-1.
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Schenn gave the Blues a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:52 of the second period. Faulk held the puck behind his net while waiting for a line change, then brought it up ice before passing to Jaden Schwartz coming through the neutral zone on his left.
Schwartz made a short pass to Schenn as he split two defenders to his right, and Schenn scored on a wrist shot from the left circle for his 14th goal of the season.
The Ducks tied the score 25 seconds later on the goal by Getzlaf, who pulled within six points of Teemu Selanne for the all-time franchise record (988).
Getzlaf stole the puck from Sammy Blais in the St. Louis zone and went one-on-one against Binnington, scoring his fifth goal of the season at 6:17 of the second period.
The Ducks were without Jamie Drysdale because of a lower-body injury, and fellow defenseman Cam Fowler left with an apparent injury following a collision with Zach Sanford of the Blues with about 14 minutes left.
Vladimir Tarasenko returned for the Blues after missing the past two games with a lower-body injury. Tarasenko was the leading goal scorer for the Blues for five straight seasons from 2014-2019.
Torey Krug missed his second straight game for St. Louis with an upper-body injury. Krug is the top-scoring defenseman for the Blues with one goal and 28 assists.
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–Field Level Media