Ducks meet an old friend in St. Louis, but it isn’t fun

ST. LOUIS -- It was all quiet in the dressing room of the Ducks on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t necessarily a place of solitude.

Not only did the Ducks get blitzed by Paul Kariya, their onetime franchise player, in a 4-2 victory by the St. Louis Blues, but they continued to feel the pain beyond the scoreboard at Scottrade Center.

Already without the injured Todd Bertuzzi and Mathieu Schneider, the Ducks lost winger Rob Niedermayer before the game and top-line center Ryan Getzlaf two shifts into the second period even as they went into the game with only 11 forwards on the roster.

Niedermayer was scratched after leaving the morning skate early because of a groin injury. Getzlaf suffered an upper-body injury, according to team officials. Both will be re-examined today in Anaheim.

“It’s a physical game that we play,” center Todd Marchant said. “Injuries are going to happen. The guys that are in here have to step up their game. They have to play a little bit better.”

Any momentum that was gained on the Ducks’ first homestand of the season was quickly lost on this winless two-game trip.

“It’s easy to get frustrated with things like that,” winger Chris Kunitz said. “You’ve got to stay on the positive. It’s what it is. You can’t control when guys get hurt or how they get hurt.”

Kariya, the Ducks’ captain from 1996 to 2003, signed with an improved St. Louis team for three years and $18 million after playing the last two seasons with the Nashville Predators.

On Tuesday, it was the one-time Ducks’ franchise face that played a major role.

In a second period in which the teams combined for five goals, Kariya had the primary assist on all three scores by the Blues. Andy McDonald gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead, but Keith Tkachuk’s rebound goal tied the score after a shot by Jay McKee deflected off Kariya.

St. Louis turned to its power play to grab a 3-1 lead with Kariya setting up two goals for Brad Boyes. Kariya’s blistering slapshot from the right circle went off Boyes and six minutes later the winger set up Boyes with a sharp cross-ice pass for an easy punch in.

Mark Mowers finished the period with his first Ducks goal when he put in a nice feed from Corey Perry, who jumped on a rebound left by goalie Manny Legace on a shot by Drew Miller. Miller got the puck in full stride on a breakout pass from Kent Huskins.

The Ducks were within one goal, but they came up empty on four power plays in the third period and five for the game. Kariya finished off the Ducks with an empty-net goal.

In 11 games, the Ducks are eight for 66 (12.1%) with the man advantage.

“I don’t know,” Kunitz said of the power-play struggles. “We watch video. We talk about it. We try different things. We go back to things that worked in the past. Obviously, we don’t have an answer for it right now.”

The lack of personnel might be an issue. Because of the injuries, Coach Randy Carlyle was reduced to using checkers Marchant, Samuel Pahlsson and Travis Moen on the second unit.

“The numbers don’t lie when you get down to bare bones,” Carlyle said.

eric.stephens@latimes.com