Hebert Second-Best to Blues’ Joseph Again, 4-1

It was a day Guy Hebert will remember as “bittersweet.”

Sunday morning, Hebert became a No. 1 goalie for the first time in his NHL career when his buddy Ron Tugnutt was traded to Montreal.

“I’ve lost a partner,” Hebert told Tugnutt, giving him a playful hug as they walked through a dank hallway in St. Louis Arena.

Sunday night, Hebert started for the Mighty Ducks in a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, the team for which he was a backup for two seasons.

Another old buddy, Blues’ All-Star goalie Curtis Joseph, showed the form that rendered Hebert a backup when Hebert was here. Joseph made 42 saves and held the Ducks to a goal by Terry Yake at 14:39 of the second period, with the Blues already leading, 2-0.

The comeback was stopped cold when the Blues scored on the very next shift, on Vitali Prokhorov’s goal at 14:58.

Kevin Miller got the Blues off to a good start when he scored his 20th goal of the season at 4:03 of the first after Hebert tried to poke-check the puck away with Miller closing in on a breakaway chance.

“Guy half-fanned on a clearing attempt and the guy scores from a near-impossible angle,” Coach Ron Wilson said.

Craig Janney made the score 2-0 with a goal at 7:02.

“There they pick up a puck off a dump-in and we blew our coverage there,” Wilson said. “There again, Guy makes a good play and he pokes the puck off the guy’s skate into the net. We weren’t getting a lot of breaks.”

Brendan Shanahan’s 36th goal closed out the Blues’ scoring.

Hebert’s day was filled with ambivalent feelings about the trade.

“I figured we made it through the season this far, I didn’t think either one of us thought anything was going to really change the rest of the year,” he said.

“(Still) this is something I’ve worked for for a long time, and it’s a big vote of confidence by the organization. I’m happy being here and happy to get the chance to play a lot of games now.”