Ducks still have a few old tricks in 4-3 victory over Blues

Surely, there has to be a snappy nickname when you see Jason Blake, Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne playing on the same line for the Ducks.

Wait a minute.

That means Koivu, at 37, happens to be the youngster on the line. Their line, formed again for the first time since last season, features a combined 116 years of age and experience.

Coming through Wednesday was Blake, 38, who scored the winning goal with 5:54 remaining in the Ducks’ 4-3 victory against the league-leading St. Louis Blues at Honda Center

The special qualities of the three men have been well chronicled and go well beyond the confines of the rink.

“Just a little tidbit,” Blake said, smiling. “We all won the Masterton too. We’ve all overcome something. So we’re ready to go.”

The Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded each year to the player best exemplifying the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication. You can win it only once. Otherwise, these three probably would often be in the running.

On Blake’s goal, he threw the puck at the net from the right corner and it went off the leg of Blues defenseman Ian Cole and past St. Louis goalie Jaroslav Halak.

Selanne was in front with Cole and there was some momentary question about whether the puck touched Selanne. Replays showed that it went in off Cole.

It was Blake’s first goal since March 5. And it stayed that way.

Selanne and Blake were joking about it on the bench.

“I said, ‘That went off you, right?’” Blake said. “And [Selanne] goes, ‘Something hit me. But they’ve got video, so we’ll just check it out.’ It was all good fun.”

The older guys may have helped seal the victory. But the kids -- and goalie Jonas Hiller -- kept the Ducks in the game after a rocky opening period.

Hiller, in fact, tied Guy Hebert’s club record for most starts in a season (68).

Rookie forward Devante Smith-Pelly tied the score at 3-3 at 7:50 of the third, on a centering pass from captain Ryan Getzlaf, about three minutes after David Perron had given the Blues a 3-2 lead.

Smith-Pelly, who played on a line with Getzlaf and Corey Perry, said: “It’s pretty easy to play with two guys like that. I just go in, create space and they’re going to make plays.”

The other Ducks goals came from defenseman Cam Fowler in the first period and center Nick Bonino in the second.

Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau was asked what his message was to his team after the opening 20 minutes.

“I can’t say what was said,” he said.

Then he answered the question.

“Basically it was if you’re going to play like this after a day off, you won’t have any more days off,” he said. “It’s pretty simple We looked like we were in mud.

“And we were looking in awe at the St. Louis Blues because they’re No. 1 in the league.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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