Players seek big push

There are defining points in a season for every team and, now, the meaning of the Ducks’ 4-3 victory at San Jose on Dec. 26 is taking on greater significance. An argument can be made that those two points have been the most important to date. The Ducks managed to pull 10 points ahead of the Sharks in the Pacific Division despite losing center Todd Marchant, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere and defenseman Francois Beauchemin to injury.

Since then, the Ducks are 2-4-2 and have watched Chris Pronger go down because of a broken foot. Yet, the second-place Sharks managed to gain only four points on the Ducks, despite winning six of seven.

Center Ryan Getzlaf said the Ducks need to finish strong before the All-Star break. Tonight they play host to the St. Louis Blues and then face road games at Edmonton on Thursday and Calgary on Friday.

“These last three games are going to be big for us,” Getzlaf said. “We need to focus on them right now and try to carry a little momentum into the break. And then we’re going to have that nice break to get our guys back and healthy.”

If there is a team that is hunting down the Ducks, it is Nashville. The Predators pulled to within one point of the Western Conference lead Monday after defeating Calgary for their sixth win in a row.

Ducks’ Coach Randy Carlyle said there is no sense in monitoring San Jose or Nashville.

“We just have to worry about the games that we play,” he said. “Don’t worry about who it is in the sense of who’s playing and what points they’re getting. If we win our share of games, we’ll control our situation.”

Said Getzlaf: “Obviously, there’s a few games here and there that we’re not going to win even with the effort there. We just need to keep pushing now and get as many points as we can.”

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Corey Perry has 28 points even though his average ice time of 11 minutes 21 seconds is third lowest among regular forwards. But there are signs the second-year right wing is earning more of Carlyle’s trust.

Perry didn’t score Saturday in the Ducks’ 3-2 shootout loss to Colorado, but he played a season-high 17:21 and led the team with eight shots.

He has logged more than 13 minutes in six of the last eight games.

TONIGHT

vs. St. Louis, 7, FSN Prime Ticket

Site -- Honda Center.

Radio -- 830.

Records -- Ducks 30-9-8; Blues 16-21-8.

Record vs. Blues -- 2-0-0.

Update -- The Ducks will play their 1,000th game. Their record in 13 years is 411-436-152. St. Louis is coming off a 5-4 shootout loss at Phoenix on Monday.

eric.stephens@latimes.com