Blues Lower the Boom

The St. Louis Blues, who are seventh in the Western Conference playoff race, meant business Sunday. The Ducks were in their way. So the Blues ran them over.

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Dallas Drake clobbered the Ducks’ Patric Kjellberg at St. Louis’ blue line in the first period. Kjellberg did not return because of what Duck officials called a sore neck. He will be re-examined today.

The Blues’ Keith Tkachuk, who returned after missing eight games with a deep thigh bruise, slammed defenseman Niclas Havelid into the boards so hard it dislodged a glass pane in the second period.

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Alexander Khavanov dropped Andy McDonald with an elbow in the second period. McDonald needed five stitches on his lower lip and missed a few shifts.

Mike Eastwood leveled German Titov in front of the Duck bench in the second period. Titov was dazed for a minute, but continued to play.

“When you’re getting run on the boards all night, you don’t make good decisions,” Duck defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky said. “You’re in a hurry because you know you’re going to get hammered.”

Duck defenseman Ruslan Salei scored in the second period and assisted on McDonald’s first-period goal. It was the second multi-point game of Salei’s career.