Brewer's last-minute goal lifts Blues to win

ST. LOUIS -- Eric Brewer wasn't trying to do anything special when he got the puck just inside Anaheim's blue line with less than a minute left in regulation.

"I was just trying to get it on net and see what happened," the St. Louis defenseman said.

What happened was that Brewer's wrist shot made it through a crowd and past Anaheim's Ilya Bryzgalov with 56 seconds remaining to give the Blues a 3-2 victory over the Mighty Ducks.

Brewer's goal gave the Blues a much-needed reprieve. St. Louis had taken three penalties late in the game, and the Mighty Ducks finally cashed in when Teemu Selanne scored with 1:16 left to tie it 2-2. But less than 20 seconds later, the Blues had the lead again.

"It's about time we got a break," Blues coach Mike Kitchen said. "The team needed it; the dressing room needed it."

Bryzgalov was playing because starting goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere had to leave the game with a groin strain at 16:55 of the second period. Bryzgalov allowed two goals on 14 shots. Giguere was 2-2-1 with a 3.13 goals against average and had played all but 15 minutes of Anaheim's first five games.

Dean McAmmond and Christian Backman also scored for St. Louis, and Patrick Lalime made 28 saves. The goal was the third for McAmmond, who is one of the players the Blues are looking to for offensive production.

"I said before that I felt I could score 15 to 20 goals," McAmmond said. "But with scoring up the way it is, that might not be enough. I probably need to score 20, 25 to really help."

The Blues finished 2-3 on their five-game homestand.

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Blues Summary

BLUES 3, MIGHTY DUCKS 2

Anaheim 1 0 1 -- 2

St. Louis 0 1 2 -- 3

First Period--1, Anaheim, Ozolinsh 1 (R.Niedermayer, Lupul), 7:56. Penalties--Brewer, StL (holding), 4:01; Woywitka, StL (holding), 6:21; Sykora, Ana (hooking), 6:48; DiPenta, Ana (holding), 9:20; Vishnevski, Ana (tripping), 13:37; Jackman, StL (roughing), 20:00.

Second Period--2, St. Louis, Backman 2 (McClement, Young), 7:05 (pp). Penalty--Hedstrom, Ana (holding), 6:40.

Third Period--3, St. Louis, McAmmond 3 (Weinrich, Cajanek), 3:44 (pp). 4, Anaheim, Selanne 3 (R.Niedermayer, Sykora), 18:42 (pp). 5, St. Louis, Brewer 4 (Young, Weight), 19:03. Penalties--McDonald, Ana (hooking), 2:00; Sykora, Ana (hooking), 5:46; Bryzgalov, Ana, served by Perry (delay of game), 8:22; Rycroft, StL (tripping), 11:30; Salvador, StL (tripping), 13:47; Jackman, StL (tripping), 17:04.

Shots on goal--Anaheim 12-8-10--30. St. Louis 9-15-10--34.

Power-play Opportunities--Anaheim 1 of 6; St. Louis 2 of 7.

Goalies--Anaheim, Giguere (20 shots-19 saves), Bryzgalov 0-1-0 (16:55 Second, 14 shots-12 saves). St. Louis, Lalime 2-4-0 (30-28).

A--10,882 (19,260). T--2:28.

Referees--Bill McCreary, Craig Spada. Linesmen--Lonnie Cameron, Don Henderson.