Hot Hebert Is a Wall in Mighty Duck Goal

ST LOUIS — For Guy Hebert, this is no longer merely a hot streak.

The Mighty Duck goalie made 38 saves Monday in a 4-1 victory over St. Louis that kept the Ducks tied with Chicago for eighth place in the Western Conference.

“You know you’re ready to go on a roll when you get great goaltending like that,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “We have a lot of injuries. We played a lot of guys who have spent a lot of time in the American Hockey League, and you hope your goaltending will be up to the task. Guy was outstanding.”

Hebert, who has given up no more than two goals in 18 of his last 25 games, had to be sharp because the Ducks gave up 39 shots.

“Instead of being hot for a couple of games, I like to think I can be a goalie who is consistent and doesn’t give up bad goals and makes the stops he’s supposed to,” Hebert said.

Teemu Selanne had two goals and an assist and passed Toronto’s Mats Sundin for fourth on the NHL scoring list with 64 points.

Selanne scored his 27th and 28th goals of the season, but Wilson says he has to be urged to shoot more. “I know I should shoot,” Selanne said. “But when you’re playing with Paul Kariya. . . .”

Steve Rucchin had three assists and Kariya one.

The Blues got five power-play opportunities but failed to score with a man advantage.

Their only goal came at 10:56 of the second period when Brett Hull tied the score, 1-1, when he converted Geoff Courtnall’s pass on a two-on-one rush. Hull has 26 goals, including 12 in his last 15 games.

Hull put the puck just inside the right post. “You’ve got me,” Hebert said when asked how Hull scored. “I think I have a welt on the side of my foot, but he pushed it in. Hull has the knack. He gets a lot of power behind it.”

Hebert had some luck. An apparent goal by St. Louis that would have broken a scoreless tie in the second period was disallowed because Courtnall was in the crease.

Another time, a St. Louis shot deflected off Duck defenseman Jason Marshall and fell behind Hebert, just in front of the goal line, but Brian Bellows swept it away.

But overall Hebert, acquired by the Mighty Ducks from St. Louis in the 1993 expansion draft, was nearly spectacular. He stopped Hull’s quick shot four times and halted shots by Joe Murphy six times.

“Basically, he was perfect, except for Hull,” Wilson said. “But it’s almost impossible to stop him on a two-on-one.

“I don’t think it’s like he has just been lucky. He is positioning himself very well. He’s seeing the puck. A lot of it has to do with [goaltending consultant] Francois Allaire. He’s got him doing the right things. A lot of goalies can get hot and then fall off. Without a goaltending consultant it takes him a while to search for answers. Francois can look at a tape and pick up the phone and call Guy.”

Hebert has recovered from a shaky start for himself and the team.

“The way the defense has played and the forwards have come back the last two or three months, we’re much better,” he said. “We were in shambles back in October. But our confidence in each other has grown over time.”

Dmitri Mironov put the Mighty Ducks ahead, 2-1, at 16:05 of the second period. Mironov poked the puck past Grant Fuhr after the goaltender blocked Kariya’s shot.

Selanne scored his second goal of the game at 4:38 of the third after taking a pass from Rucchin on a power play. That made it 3-1.

Rookie Sean Pronger scored his second NHL goal, and second in two games, at 13:56 of the third.

Blues Coach Joel Quenneville gave Hebert credit for the Ducks’ victory.

“He certainly played a strong game, although we didn’t create much traffic in front of the net early,” Quenneville said. “You have to try to create traffic and scoring chances to distract him.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.