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Blues-Ducks Preview

Oct 16, 2009 - 10:13 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

St. Louis (2-2-1) at Anaheim (3-2-1), 10:00 p.m. EDT

The Anaheim Ducks placed an emphasis on starting games strong, and it helped them earn a win in their last contest. They've had little trouble early in home games against the St. Louis Blues in recent years.

After a successful opener to a six-game stretch at Honda Center, the Ducks look to continue their dominance of the Blues there Saturday night.

Anaheim (3-2-1) didn't score in the first period of any of its first five games, but it got two goals from Corey Perry in the first 8:29 of a 3-2 win over Minnesota on Wednesday night.

The Ducks will next try to take advantage of a Blues team that has lost three straight and struggled mightily in Anaheim.

Anaheim is 10-1-0 with one tie at home against St. Louis (2-2-1) since the start of the 2002-03 season. The Ducks have outscored the Blues 16-8 in the first period during that stretch.

Perry has two goals in 13 career games against St. Louis, but he's leading Anaheim offensively this season.

Perry fell short of his first career hat trick Wednesday but helped the Ducks bounce back from a 3-0 loss to the New York Rangers in their previous game. The fifth-year forward has a team-high seven points (four goals, three assists) in six games after finishing with a career-best 72 (32 goals, 40 assists) last season.

Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle believes Perry's busy offseason has helped him get off to a quick start.

"It's a credit to Corey because of the work he put in preparing for the Team Canada trials," Carlyle said. "Preparing himself earlier for the season is paying dividends."

Led by Perry, along with a goal from Ryan Carter, the Ducks had a season-high 35 shots against the Wild to start their six-game homestand on a high note.

"Coming off the road, we're going to rest our bodies, rejuvenate and be ready," Perry told the team's official Web site. "This is our home rink. It is where we want to get our wins. We want to own this building."

Anaheim's matchup with the Wild was its first contest at Honda Center since losing its season opener 4-1 to San Jose on Oct. 3.

St. Louis began the season with two wins and a total of nine goals against Detroit in Sweden, but has been held to five goals during its skid. The Blues lost back-to-back games in regulation before a 3-2 overtime defeat at Phoenix on Thursday night.

All of St. Louis' losses this season have been to teams that weren't in the playoff picture last season.

A bright spot for the Blues on Thursday was David Backes, who scored his first goal in five games after finding the back of the net a career-high 31 times last season. The winger has been held to two goals and one assist in nine games versus Anaheim.

Former Duck Paul Kariya has three goals in 15 games against Anaheim. Kariya had been held off the scoresheet in three straight games overall before scoring a goal against the Coyotes.

The veteran winger is tied with Keith Tkachuk for the team lead with three goals.

Kariya will likely next face Anaheim's Jonas Hiller, who has a 1.63 goals-against average in winning his last three games. He has posted a 2.50 GAA in winning his two career games against St. Louis.

The Ducks went 3-0-1 against the Blues last season.