Blues Becoming Even Better

Joel Quenneville, coach of the Central Division-leading St. Louis Blues, said the first two periods of his team’s 5-2 victory over the Ducks marked its best hockey this season.

Guy Charron, Duck coach, was relieved to hear it.

“Tell Joel to back off then, will you?” Charron said, breaking into a wide postgame smile.

The notion that the Blues can keep improving is a scary one indeed for the rest of the NHL. After all, the Blues (23-4-4 for 50 points) have been pretty tough through their first 31 games. Saturday’s victory extended their unbeaten streak to 10-0-1, the longest current streak in the league.

“What it comes down to is, whatever you get you have to earn against them,” Charron said of the Blues. “They’re not going to make it easy for you. You’ve got to do a lot of things right.”

Charron noticed the Blues did a good many things better Saturday than in sneaking away with a 1-0 victory Dec. 5 against the Ducks.

“I don’t think St. Louis played as well the last time we were here,” he said. “They come at you in waves. We tried to handle the waves as best we could.”

The Blues, who led the NHL with 114 points last season, have developed a bit of a swagger too.

Moments after recording his first three-goal game, St. Louis’ Michal Handzus slashed Duck defenseman Niclas Havelid, believing Havelid fired a shot into the crowd intentionally in frustration.

Handzus was mistaken. Havelid’s dump-in was deflected into the stands by a St. Louis player.

*

The Ducks are off for the Christmas break, but return to action Dec. 27 to play the Stars at Dallas. Games Dec. 28 at Nashville and Dec. 31 at Minnesota bring the Ducks to the midway point of their eighth NHL season.