Carlsson, Sennecke extend streaks, Ducks defeat Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Leo Carlsson scored and had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games for the Anaheim Ducks in a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Monday.

Pavel Mintyukov had a goal and an assist, and Mason McTavish and Chris Kreider each scored for the Ducks (16-9-1), who lost 5-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday but have won two of three. Ville Husso made 21 saves.

Beckett Sennecke assisted on McTavish’s goal to extend his point streak to eight games (eight points; one goal, seven assists), tying Paul Kariya (1994-95) for the longest run by a Ducks rookie.

It was the Ducks' first win against the Blues in the past 11 games.

“A good 60 minutes; we were ready to play right away,” Husso said. “We were not happy with the way with the way the game ended yesterday, so just tried to play a full 60. (Penalty kill) was unbelievable (6-for-6) as well.”

Anaheim came into the game 28th in the NHL on the penalty kill and had allowed at least a goal in five of the past six games.

“We changed our penalty-killing units a bit today,” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said. “We got through some kills, they had some good looks, they had some dangerous misses, but you get off to a start like that with the new units getting out there. I thought there were some good things we saw and the goalie was good too.”

Jordan Kyrou scored for the Blues (9-11-7), who were looking for their first three-game winning streak of the season. Jordan Binnington was pulled after allowing two goals on five shots and replaced by Joel Hofer, who made 19 saves.

“It was just one of those games where we couldn’t get a lot of momentum going,” St. Louis defenseman Cam Fowler said. “They capitalized on a couple chances and that’s the difference in the game.”

McTavish gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 6:33 of the first period when his shot from the left boards grazed off Fowler and beat Binnington to the short side.

Kyrou tied it 20 seconds later at 6:53 when he tapped in a Robert Thomas backhand feed at the right post.

Mintyukov made it 2-1 at 10:24 right after the Ducks killed a penalty when the defenseman pulled up in the right circle and beat Binnington from a sharp angle, finishing the goalie’s night in favor of Hofer.

“I was alone; I’m not going to try and take [the] ‘D’ 1-on-1,” Mintyukov said. “So I just tried to shoot it and scored.”

Binnington was upset with being pulled from the game at that moment, but St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said it’s the competitiveness in his goalie and he’s fine with it.

“You know, I love Jordan Binnington,” Montgomery said. “He's a competitor, he raises his games in the big moments all the time. I love him. He walked off the ice, he said, 'I love you.' I said, 'I love you too.' We're both competitors by nature, and at the end of the period, he waited for me, we apologized, we moved on. It's over and done with.”

Carlsson made it 3-1 at 5:58 of the third period when he redirected a Radko Gudas shot from the blue line past Hofer to give him 10 points (three goals, seven assists) during his point streak.

Kreider's empty-net goal at 17:23, set up by Carlsson, made it a 4-1 final.

NOTES: Kreider has scored in three straight games, has a four-game point streak (three goals, one assist). … McTavish extended his point streak to four games (two goals, three assists). … Blues forward Aleksanteri Kaskimaki was supposed to make his NHL debut after being recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League but did not arrive in time due to bad weather. … Kyrou has 24 points (six goals, 18 assists) in 22 games against Anaheim. … Thomas has a four-game point streak (one goal, three assists).