Blues defeat Ducks to complete game postponed by Bouwmeester episode

ANAHEIM-- The St. Louis Blues defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 at Honda Center on Wednesday to complete the game postponed from Feb. 11 after Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester had a cardiac episode.

Alex Pietrangelo scored two goals, and Jake Allen made 26 saves for the Blues (42-19-10), who remained two points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche for first place in the Central Division.
"We did a pretty (good) job there of not bringing it up," Pietrangelo said of Bouwmeester's episode. "Our focus was on the game, and we did a pretty good job of keeping that focus."
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Ducks highlights]
Jani Hakanpää scored his first NHL goal, and Anthony Stolarz made 33 saves in his first game for the Ducks (29-33-9).
The game was played in its entirety, but began in a 1-1 tie, the score at the time of Bouwmeester's first-period episode. Ivan Barbashev scored for the Blues, and Adam Henrique for the Ducks.
Pietrangelo scored during a delayed penalty at 16:08 of the first period to make it 2-1.

Hakanpaa, a 27-year-old defenseman playing his fifth NHL game, tied it 2-2 at 13:28 of the second period. His shot from the high slot went through the legs of Blues forward Sammy Blais.
Hakanpaa was selected by St. Louis in the fourth round (No. 104) of the 2010 NHL Draft.
"It was a big emotional rush, for sure," he said. "It's one of the things, when you're playing outdoors as a kid, you always imagine yourself playing in the National (Hockey) League and scoring a goal, and now it all comes true, so it feels unreal. It really hasn't soaked in yet. ... I've got to pinch myself before I go to sleep tonight."
Zach Sanford gave the Blues a 3-2 lead at 17:13 of the second period.

Pietrangelo scored into an empty net with a 1:00 left to make it 4-2. It was his NHL career high 16th goal of the season.
"I've been trying to shoot more this year, so the more you shoot, maybe the more you score," Pietrangelo said.
Stolarz was recalled from San Diego of the American Hockey League on Monday. He had not played in the NHL since April 4, 2019, when he made 24 saves for the Edmonton Oilers in a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks.
"He's had an excellent season," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "To come in and play the way he did against the Stanley Cup champions, I think [Stolarz] should be feeling real well about that."
Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench Feb. 11 and was revived with a defibrillator. He had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) procedure Feb. 14, and the Blues placed him on long-term injured reserve four days later.

They said it

"I give us credit. We stuck to it, stuck to the game. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't the way we drew it up exactly. It's a tough week for us, and I thought we did a pretty good job of using everybody and managing the energy to get through it." -- St. Louis captain Alex Pietrangelo
"I thought we competed much, much harder. I thought we were a little bit more physical, little bit more aware. It was great to see [Hakanpaa] get rewarded with his first goal, and I thought Stolarz played very, very good in the net." -- Ducks coach Dallas Eakins

Need to know

Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist left after being hit by Ducks forward David Backes at 6:49 of the third period. St. Louis coach Craig Berube did not have an update on Sundqvist. ... Allen is 4-0-0 with a 1.23 goals-against average and .953 save percentage in his past four starts. ... St. Louis defensemen have scored 45 goals this season. ... Pietrangelo scored 15 goals in 2017-18.

What's next

Blues: Host the San Jose Sharks on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-MW, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Ducks: At the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; FS-W, PRIME, NHL.TV)