{"id":540452,"date":"2026-04-04T15:34:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540452\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T15:34:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:34:57","slug":"ducks-late-season-slide-reaches-4-games-with-loss-to-blues-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540452\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks\u2019 late-season slide reaches 4 games with loss to Blues \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks right wing Beckett Sennecke, right, collides with St. Louis Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker during the first period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas, center, celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period of a game against the Ducks on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues left wing Dylan Holloway, right, scores a goal during the first period of a game against the Ducks on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues left wing Dylan Holloway, left, celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period of a game against the Ducks on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks defenseman Ian Moore, left, gets tangled up with defenseman Colton Parayko, center, and others in front of the goal during the first period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks right wing Beckett Sennecke, right, collides with St. Louis Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker during the first period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues left wing Dylan Holloway, right, celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period of a game against the Ducks on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues center Otto Stenberg, left, checks Ducks center Mason McTavish into the boards during the first period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues defenseman Philip Broberg, right, tries to get off a shot on goal as Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal (1) defends his net during the second period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues defenseman Philip Broberg, left, is brought down by Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba after a shot on goal during the second period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues defenseman Philip Broberg, left, is brought down by Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba after a shot on goal during the second period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues right wing Dalibor Dvorsky (54) gets away from Ducks center Mikael Granlund during the second period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe, right, collides with St. Louis Blues center Otto Stenberg during the second period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues defenseman Philip Broberg, above, shoots on goal over Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe, right, and St. Louis Blues center Otto Stenberg (28) during the second period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko, center, celebrates his goal with teammates Dalibor Dvorsky (54) and Theo Lindstein (41) during the second period of a game against the Ducks on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues center Oskar Sundqvist, right, battles Ducks left wing Jeffrey Viel for the puck during the second period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks defenseman Olen Zellweger brings the puck up the ice during the third period of a game against the St. Louis Blues on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer (30) grabs the puck in front of defenseman Cam Fowler, center, and Ducks center Mikael Granlund (64) during the third period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer (30) blocks a shot from Ducks right wing Beckett Sennecke, center, as St. Louis Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker (75) defends during the third period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer (30) blocks a shot from Ducks left wing Chris Kreider (20) during the third period on Friday night at Honda Center. The Ducks lost their fourth straight game, 6-2. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 20<\/p>\n

Ducks right wing Beckett Sennecke, right, collides with St. Louis Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker during the first period on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Honda Center. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

ANAHEIM \u2014 After a 6-2 bruising from the St. Louis Blues on Friday night at Honda Center, the Ducks\u2019 aspirations of winning their division were in muddy waters.<\/p>\n

With the title in their grasp, the Ducks have greased up their fingers, fumbling into a four-game winless slump. That\u2019s come just as the Edmonton Oilers have ripped off a season-best five straight victories to usurp the Ducks\u2019 position atop the Pacific.\u00a0With six games left in the regular season, the Ducks are stuck in their second-longest funk of the campaign.<\/p>\n

After their most precipitous plummet, a nine-game freefall, the Ducks reeled off seven straight wins sans some of the biggest producers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe season\u2019s weird, especially with us. We\u2019ve been so streaky this year,\u201d center Ryan Poehling said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the urgency. Everyone knows the scenario that we\u2019re in. The last two games we played good hockey, tonight it wasn\u2019t the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blues took the rubber match of the season series and both meetings in Anaheim. They won for the fifth time in seven chances to keep their flickering playoff hopes from being extinguished ahead of a home-and-home set against the league-leading Colorado Avalanche.<\/p>\n

Poehling and Jeffrey Viel scored for the Ducks, who didn\u2019t find the Blues\u2019 net in the final 43:59. Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l surrendered six goals on 29 shots, with culpability to spread around between him and his defense.<\/p>\n

Robert Thomas had a goal and two assists to headline an effort in which six St. Louis skaters turned in multipoint displays. Dylan Holloway tallied twice on the power play. Pius Suter and Colton Parayko each notched a goal and an assist. Jonatan Berggen picked up a goal. Jake Neighbours and Philip Broberg, who extended his scoring streak to seven games, both tacked on two helpers. Joel Hofer made 25 saves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two times we\u2019ve been in this building have been two of our five best performances of the year,\u201d Blues coach Jim Montgomery said.<\/p>\n

Holloway\u2019s second man-advantage marker in Friday\u2019s romp cushioned the Blues\u2019 lead to 6-2 just 82 seconds into the third period. He authoritatively one-timed a Thomas\u2019 seam pass, which traveled from the middle of the left circle to the bottom of the right one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a young team \u2026 for a lot of these guys it\u2019s their first time going through it,\u201d said Poehling, who was part of a Philadelphia Flyers roster that was in a firm playoff spot with 11 games to go but lost nine of them to miss the 2024 postseason cut. \u201cWe know we need to be urgent, it\u2019s just a lack of doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only two goals of the middle frame extended the Blues\u2019 lead to 5-2.<\/p>\n

Parayko\u2019s pellet from the top of the right circle beat Dost\u00e1l short side with 3:10 left on the clock.<\/p>\n

At 3:08, Suter had made it 4-2 with a backdoor goal fired into a wide-open net after a chaotic and disorganized defensive sequence by the Ducks. An uncovered pinch by Ian Moore created a jail break and, to compound matters, Moore was an onlooker as Suter hammered the puck.<\/p>\n

In just 4:28 of ice time to that point, Moore was on for three even-strength goals against, finishing with a -3 rating. He was also on for three of four goals against (the final three) during Wednesday\u2019s implosion in San Jose.<\/p>\n

The first period was a seesaw affair wherein the Ducks struck first, trailed by a goal, pulled even and then headed to the dressing room down one.<\/p>\n

A back pass by Chris Kreider, who has one goal in 14 games, for Leo Carlsson went off Carlsson\u2019s skate, sending Suter the other way on a three-on-two rush. He found an open Berggen in the slot with 1:16 remaining.<\/p>\n

The hosts had leveled the score at two after Poehling beat former Duck Cam Fowler wide and then flipped a backhanded saucer pass to Viel, who chopped home his third goal of the season.<\/p>\n

Poehling opened the scoring 1:51 into the match after winning a faceoff and then tipping a precise shot from Mason McTavish, who was aiming for Poehling\u2019s blade.<\/p>\n

Poehling already has a career high in points and is one shy of his personal best for goals.<\/p>\n

The Blues got a tying goal from Thomas at 5:24 and he earned the secondary assist on their first go-ahead goal, a power-play conversion from Holloway at 11:18.<\/p>\n

On his goal, Thomas swooped into the middle lane to dust McTavish and receive a slick feed from Broberg that sent him toward a vulnerable Dost\u00e1l with speed for a rising shot. With the extra man, he reversed the puck to key the two-man game between Neighbours and Holloway, who snuck a shot under Dost\u00e1l\u2019s left pad.<\/p>\n

Thomas has seven points during a four-game scoring streak for the surging Blues, who have risen from the dead after the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the coverage on the first goal, it\u2019s a three-on-three eventually, and it turns into a breakaway that\u2019s uncontested. Those types of plays can\u2019t happen,\u201d Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said.<\/p>\n

The Ducks will be in action again Saturday, welcoming the Calgary Flames for the second date of their five-game homestand.\u00a0 They\u2019ve beaten Calgary three times in 2025-26, twice in overtime and once in a shootout.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s find a way to take care of our business, and we\u2019ve got a lot of business to take care of here,\u201d Quenneville said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ducks right wing Beckett Sennecke, right, collides with St. Louis Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker during the first period…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5120],"tags":[233,71,5,4,43,534,84,5285,5284],"class_list":{"0":"post-540452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-blues","8":"tag-anaheim-ducks","9":"tag-blues","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-st-louis","14":"tag-st-louis-blues","15":"tag-stlouis","16":"tag-stlouisblues"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116347178541002555","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}