Ducks Put Hurt on Blues in Win

Gordie Howe would have been proud.

Energetic winger Mike Leclerc got bloodied Friday and the Mighty Ducks got a victory, ending their 0-6-1 winless streak with a bang.

Needing a spark--any spark--to lift them from a post-Christmas hangover, Leclerc delivered big-time for the Ducks. The Ducks then took a hard-earned 3-1 victory over the league-leading St. Louis Blues.

Leclerc dazzled an announced crowd of 14,906 at the Arrowhead Pond with a lunch-pail effort that smacked of old-time hockey, eh? He came up a goal short of the old Howe hat trick.

You know--a goal, an assist and a fight.

But Leclerc delivered two assists, two scraps and one monster check that drove St. Louis defenseman Al MacInnis into the boards and out of the game in the third period.

MacInnis suffered bruised ribs on the play, which happened while the Ducks were ahead, 3-1, at the 3:53 mark of the final period. Leclerc then fought St. Louis’ Marc Bergevin twice in the third period.

In the second, Leclerc assisted on goals by Marty McInnis and Paul Kariya, helping the Ducks build a 2-0 lead midway through the period.

“I’m just trying to get some energy going,” Leclerc said. “I’m trying to play hard against them.”

Of the hit on MacInnis, he said, “I pushed him with one hand in his chest. I’d like to take a look at it on the video to see if I’m wrong. I’d really like to see it.”

The Blues certainly had no complaints about Leclerc’s check after the game, although they weren’t pleased to see their standout defenseman leave with an injury.

Moments earlier, the Blues watched Matt Cullen slip a pass between his legs to a trailing Ladislav Kohn on the right wing. Kohn whistled a quick shot into the top corner of the net to give the Ducks a 3-1 lead 2:08 into the third.

“The big goal was the one early in the third,” St. Louis Coach Joel Quenneville said. “And losing Al wasn’t going to help. [The Ducks] were a desperate team.”

The Ducks also had seemed as if they couldn’t hit water if they fell from the Huntington Beach pier. Their power play was hurting, not helping. Their defense was porous. Their offense nonexistent.

There were signs in a 2-0 loss Wednesday to the Ottawa Senators that things might be turning around for the Ducks. In the end, it was simply another painful loss and extended their winless streak to seven games.

Going into Friday’s game, the Ducks had one power-play goal in their last 33 chances. They also had slipped to 10th place in the Western Conference standings.

Friday, they got it right from the very first shift.

The Ducks took all the Blues, who lead the NHL with 60 points, could give and kept skating.

McInnis, set up by Leclerc, gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead with an easy tap in 4:41 into the second period. Kariya added a power-play goal at 10:15 of the second. Kohn put the game out of reach with his first goal since Dec. 12. Pierre Turgeon scored for St. Louis.

“Big goal,” Cullen said of Kohn’s third of the season.

Of his pass between his legs, Cullen added with a laugh, “That’s Minnesota high school right there. The boys gave me a hard time about that one.”

The Ducks still had almost 18 minutes to weather against the Blues, who were 5-0-2 in their last seven before Friday. Goalie Guy Hebert turned back his former team, ending a personal six-game losing streak.

Hebert, who last won Dec. 19 against the Detroit Red Wings, stopped 36 shots and bailed out the Ducks in the few times they suffered defensive lapses.

The Ducks got a bit of a scare when St. Louis center Mike Eastwood leveled winger Teemu Selanne with a tough but legal check at the 18:36 mark.

After a few minutes to gather himself, and with trainer Chris Phillips attending to him, Selanne rose and skated slowly to the Duck bench. Selanne then played a regular shift in the third period.

CAPITAL GAINS: Washington ends New Jersey’s nine-game unbeaten streak. Page 4