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Blues double up Ducks

Dec 9, 2011 - 4:50 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Ian Cole had a goal and an assist, leading St. Louis to a 4-2 victory over Anaheim on Thursday.

T.J. Oshie scored a pair and Chris Porter also tallied for the Blues, who improved to 6-1-1 over their last eight and continue to surge under new coach Ken Hitchcock.

Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves in the win.

Bobby Ryan and Devante Smith-Pelly both scored, while Jonas Hiller stopped 20 shots for the Ducks.

They fell to 1-2-1 under new head coach Bruce Boudreau.

Hitchcock took over for Davis Payne on November 6 and the Blues have recorded at least one point in 13 of his 15 games at the helm.

The grabbed a 1-0 on Porter's heads-up play midway through the opening period. Jamie Langenbrunner ripped a slap shot, which Hiller appeared to stop. The puck, though, snuck behind the netminder and Porter pushed it in from the side of the crease.

"I didn't see it," said Hiller. "I tried not to move so I don't put it in myself. I guess I depend a lot on my defensemen there to tell me where it is. I don't think too many people knew where it was."

The Ducks responded at the 14:31 mark, as Teemu Selanne found Ryan from behind the net for an easy tally.

In the second, Cole beat Hiller with a wrister off long rebound from a Matt D'Agostini shot and Carlo Colaiacovo released Oshie for a long snap shot tally for a 3-1 Blues lead 1:46 before the second intermission.

Smith-Pelly made it a one-goal game 3:17 into the third, chopping a deflected Ryan Getzlaf pass out of the air and past Halak, but Oshie notched an empty- netter from center ice with 46 seconds remaining to seal the St. Louis win.

"Not the way we wanted to win," said Oshie, "going kind of back and forth like that, but definitely take the two points any day."

Game Notes

This was the second meeting between the teams this season. The Ducks won the initial matchup, 4-2, on October 16...The Blues captured their 900th all-time win at home.