ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kevin Roy made the most of his two-hour banishment to the minors.
In his first game back with Anaheim, the rookie wing scored twice and John Gibson made 29 saves as the Ducks defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-1 on Thursday night.
Roy was sent down to the Ducks’ AHL affiliate in San Diego on Monday. He arrived in town after a one-hour drive and had a nice, quiet steak dinner at a downtown restaurant. At the end of the meal, his phone rang, summoning him back to Anaheim after Corey Perry injured his knee in the first period of a 3-2 win over Carolina.
Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said Roy adjusted well to the strange situation.
“We didn’t know he was going to have to do a U-turn on the I-5,” Carlyle joked. “But he’s still a young guy cutting his teeth and he’s still got a huge learning curve. He finds ways to put pucks in the net.”
Andrew Cogliano also scored for Anaheim, which has won three of four. Patrik Berglund scored for the Blues, who have lost two in a row.
Gibson earned his second victory at St. Louis in the last 16 days. He stopped 37 of 39 shots in a 3-2 win on Nov. 29.
“We know where they are in the standings and how good of a team they are,” Cogliano said. “They bring out the best in us.”
Roy scored twice in a span of 2:45 in the third period to push the lead to 3-0. He pounced on the rebound of a shot by Cam Fowler at 5:43 for a 2-0 advantage.
“He’s got a nice touch at the net,” Cogliano said about Roy, who has six goals in 16 games this season. “He’s a heady player, he’s scoring and we need that.”
Roy became the second rookie in franchise history to score two goals in less than three minutes. Bobby Ryan scored twice in a span of 1:02 on Jan. 8, 2009.
Cogliano stuffed a loose puck past Jake Allen from close range in the second period for his fourth goal of the season. It was his first since Oct. 26, a span of 22 games.
Gibson, who improved to 10-10-3, stopped Joel Edmundson on a breakaway in the second.
Berglund broke the shutout with 5:53 left. It was the Blues’ first goal in 114:07.
“We’ve got to be more desperate at home,” Berglund said. “Today, at least we kept our heads up. But a few small mistakes and they scored on them.”
St. Louis failed on four power play attempts.
“We’re carrying a lot of baggage from the previous power play into the next one,” coach Mike Yeo said.
The Ducks, who have earned at least one point in their last six games, were playing the first of six successive road games.
“Great way to start the road trip,” said Roy, who also scored a goal in St. Louis on Nov. 29.
NOTES: Perry is listed as week to week. … Allen has started the Blues’ last seven games. … St. Louis D Alex Pietrangelo missed his third consecutive game with a lower-body injury. … The Ducks will play 11 of their next 14 games on the road.
UP NEXT
Ducks: Play at Washington on Saturday in the second stop on their road trip.
Blues: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday in the first of back-to-back games between the teams. St. Louis plays at Winnipeg on Sunday.
Photo credit – Jeff Roberson / Associated Press / St. Louis, MO