Holloway scores twice, Blues move up in wild card chase with win against Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Dylan Holloway scored two power-play goals for the St. Louis Blues in a 6-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Friday.

Robert Thomas had a goal and two assists, Pius Suter and Colton Parayko each had a goal and an assist, and Jake Neighbours and Philip Broberg each had two assists for the Blues (32-31-12), who ended a two-game skid (0-1-1) and moved within three points of the second wild card from the Western Conference into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Joel Hofer made 25 saves.

St. Louis also beat the Ducks 4-0 in Anaheim on March 8.

"Two times we've been in this building has been two of, probably, our five best performances of the year," St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. "We played fast, we were really smart with the puck, we didn't force things through the middle because that's a team that really occupies the middle of the ice and they have great sticks and they transition extremely well off turnovers."

Ryan Poehling had a goal and an assist, Jeffrey Viel also scored, and Lukas Dostal made 23 saves for the Ducks (41-30-5), who lost their fourth in a row (0-3-1).

"Everyone knows the scenario that we're in," Poehling said. "Last two games, I thought we played good hockey. Tonight wasn't the case.”

Poehling gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead when he tipped in a shot by Mason McTavish at 1:51 of the first period.

Thomas split two Anaheim defenders before receiving a pass from Broberg and scoring from the slot on the first shot of the game for St. Louis to tie it 1-1 at 5:24.

"You can just see the coverage off the first goal," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "It turns into a breakaway and it's uncontested. Those types of plays can't happen, especially early in the game."

The Blues were on the power play when Holloway scored between Dostal's pads with a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle for a 2-1 lead at 11:18.

Poehling made a cross-ice feed to Viel for a redirection from in front of the crease to tie it 2-2 at 16:01.

St. Louis moved back ahead at 18:44 after Anaheim teammates Leo Carlsson and Ian Moore both skated away from the puck in the neutral zone, appearing to think the other was going to play it. 

That lapse led to a 3-on-2 rush by the Blues and Jonatan Berggren finished it with a snap shot from between the hash marks for a 3-2 lead.

"We just need to be harder, more connected too," Poehling said. "A big part of that, too, is just being quicker, change-wise. Sometimes, we end up being a little bit lazy, and then we stay out there for too long hoping for something, and that's when you kind of get caught in your own zone and then bad things happen. As a group, we just need to just pull together a little bit more.” 

Dostal made a save on Neighbours on a 2-on-1 rush, but the rebound came to Tyler Tucker and he slid the puck over to Suter, who scored into the open side of the net to make it 4-2 at 3:08 of the second period.

"Really nice play," Suter said. "There was nobody around, so I just kind of stayed there."

Parayko scored with a snap shot from the top of the right circle to stretch the lead to 5-2 at 16:50.

Holloway scored backdoor on a pass from Thomas while on a power play to make it 6-2 at 1:22 of the third period.

"He's the most underrated passer in the league," Holloway said of Thomas. "Such a nice pass and I was kind of blessed to have that lay right on my tape like that."

NOTES: The Blues have won 12 of their past 13 games against the Ducks, including seven straight at Honda Center. ... Broberg extended his point streak to seven games (two goals, six assists), tied for the third longest by a St. Louis defenseman since 1994-95. ... St. Louis forward Pavel Buchnevich, who was in a five-way tie for the team lead in goals (17) prior to the game, missed his first game of the season for maintenance purposes. The Blues next play back-to-back games against the Colorado Avalanche. “We want to make sure he's at his best for those two games," Montgomery said. ... Cam Fowler is the only player to appear in all 75 games for St. Louis this season. ... Thomas has 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in his past 15 games. ... Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba played in his 900th NHL game. ... Anaheim fell to 13-1-1 when scoring first at home this season.