Roy’s two goals help lift Ducks
Rookie scores twice in a span of 2:45 in the third period. Gibson makes 29 saves.
ST. LOUIS — Kevin Roy made the most of his twohour 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 onehour 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.
“I got to go to dinner, then they called me to come back,” Roy said. “I was pretty happy.”
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.
The Ducks, who have earned at least one point in their last six games, were playing the first of six successive road games.