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ST. LOUIS -- Two teams with little time to shore up their defensive play will meet Sunday night when the St. Louis Blues host the Anaheim Ducks in the second game of a back-to-back for both teams at Scottrade Center.
Both teams lost road games Saturday night when the Blues fell 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime and the Ducks dropped a 5-3 decision to the Dallas Stars.
The back-to-back set is the first of the season for each team.
The loss Saturday was a particularly dispiriting one for the Ducks, who raced out to a 3-0 lead before the midway point of the second period but allowed four goals in a span of fewer than seven minutes before intermission. The Stars racked up a franchise-record 30 shots in the second period.
The Ducks, who pulled John Gibson after the second period, limited the Stars to one goal -- an empty netter by Radek Faksa with 1:28 remaining -- on seven shots in the third.
"Our team performance, obviously, in the second period wasn't good, but in the third, we played more of the way we need to play," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "But it takes 60 minutes to win in the NHL. We only played 40 minutes."
As far as defenseman Cam Fowler was concerned, Saturday night was a long time coming for the Ducks, who allowed opponents to fire 134 shots at Gibson in their first four games but still opened 3-0-1.
"I feel terrible," Fowler said. "He's been phenomenal all year. He's the reason why we even have a chance most nights. As bad as tonight was, if you look at our shot totals for us in the first five games, it has not been good. And he's been our best player, by far, so I feel awful for him."
The Blues rode a roller coaster as well Saturday when they fell behind 2-0 before scoring three straight goals spanning the second and third periods. But Blackhawks right winger Alex DeBrincat scored the tying goal with 6:54 left in regulation before he collected the game-winner with nine seconds left in overtime.
"It's good that the guys battled back, we got a point," Blues head coach Mike Yeo said. "But still, there's some areas that need to improve here."
The Blues have given up at least four goals in three of their first four games.
"You have to play smart to be good defensively," Yeo said. "And I think that when we start to have sort of an internal pride in our locker room, that when you're on the ice, that it matters as much not to have anything bad happen as it does for something good to happen, then when we start to come together a little bit more as a team."
The Blues announced Saturday night that backup goalie Chad Johnson will make his season and St. Louis debut Sunday. Johnson, who signed as a free agent on July 1, is 3-2-0 in six career appearances against the Ducks.
Miller is likely to get his first start of the season for the Ducks. He is 2-7-0 in nine career games against the Blues.
