Recap: Ducks Can't Slow Down Blues, Fall 7-2 in Road Trip Opener

Cutter Gauthier and Mason McTavish posted multi-point nights, but the Ducks could not rally from an early deficit tonight in a 7-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center.

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The loss dropped Anaheim to 29-31-7 on the season, eight points back of a Western Conference playoff spot.

Gauthier and Nikita Nesterenko scored for the Ducks, as Anaheim struggled to generate offense against a stingy St. Louis defense. McTavish registered a pair of assists while Lukas Dostal and former Blue Ville Husso combined for 18 saves.

Brayden Schenn, Pavel Buchnevich, Dylan Holloway, Radek Faksa, Mathieu Joseph, Jake Neighbours and Oskar Sundqvist all struck for the Blues, who improved to 33-28-7 on the season in sweeping the three-game season series. Veteran netminder Jordan Binnington earned his 21st win of the season with stops on 22-of-24 Anaheim attempts.

The evening got off to a nightmarish start for Anaheim from the jump, as St. Louis claimed a 2-0 lead in the first 90 seconds of action.

Schenn, honored pregame for playing in his 1,000th NHL game, scored the first on a backdoor pass from linemate Dylan Holloway off the rush. Buchnevich then doubled the advantage on the next shift, redirecting a centering pass from Neighbours past Dostal to the short side.

Former Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler collected an assist on Buchnevich's goal. Fowler, Anaheim's all-time leading scorer among defenseman, has found the scoresheet in each of his three matchups against the Ducks this season.

Anaheim's Jacob Trouba dropped the gloves with Schenn later in the period, after the Ducks blueliner crushed Blues winger Jordan Kyrou with an open-ice hit.

Holloway extended St. Louis' lead to three midway through the second period with a power-play goal, a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from a defenseman Justin Faulk.

With a goal and an assist, Holloway clinched his first career 50-point season in the NHL. Acquired from Edmonton last summer via an offer sheet, Holloway has more than tripled his combined scoring total from his first two NHL campaigns, all in 22 fewer games.

Anaheim would get on the board shortly after Holloway's goal though on a remarkable individual effort by Gauthier, who won the race to a rebound in the low slot and swiped it home while falling to the ice.

The two-point night gave Gauthier points in four of his last five games and nine points in his last eight outings. Gauthier ranks fifth among NHL rookies in scoring this season and tied for third in goals.

McTavish grabbed the secondary assist on the goal, marking his team-best 12th point in 13 appearances since the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Now in his third full NHL season, McTavish is four points shy of matching his career high in scoring with 15 games still to play.

That would be as close as Anaheim would get though, as Faksa restored the three-goal lead for the home side with four minutes to go in the middle frame, punching home a loose puck amidst a swarm of bodies just outside the Anaheim crease. Joseph then scored shorthanded off the rush two minutes later, making it 5-1 after two periods.

Husso replaced Dostal in net to start the third period.

Nesterenko cut into the deficit later in the period, as Anaheim's third line struck for the second time. McTavish created the chance with a low shot from the point, a bid that first hit Gauthier before bouncing off Nesterenko and into the net.

Nesterenko has now scored four career NHL goals, all of which have come against Binnington.

Neighbours and Sundqvist capped the scoring with a pair of power-play goals later in the third.

The Ducks continue a three-game road trip Tuesday in Dallas.