Nick Ritchie isn’t one of the

ST. PAUL Alex Burmistrov Jersey , Minn. (AP) first players called upon for the Anaheim Ducks in a shootout.He wasn’t among the first 10 shooters Saturday.Yet, Ritchie scored in the 11th round of the shootout and John Gibson stopped the final seven shooters in the Ducks’ 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild.Article continues below ...”It seems like once it gets over five or six (rounds) it can go over 15 sometimes, so there was a good chance I was going to get a shot there and I capitalized on it,” said Ritchie, whose quick shot split the pads of Devan Dubnyk. Ritchie missed his other shootout attempt this season.Prior to the goal, the teams combined for 13 straight misses.”Anytime you win a shootout that goes that long, you feel fortunate you get the extra point. Some big stops from our goaltender, and we found a guy who scored the big goal. We’ll take it,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.They’ll also gladly take the extra point that lifted the Ducks into a tie with the Wild for the second wild-card slot in the Western Conference. Anaheim also jumped Calgary for third in the Pacific Division, although the Flames play Saturday night.”It’s teams battling for playoffs. You’re battling for your lives right now,” said Corey Perry, who scored in regulation along with Ondrej Kase. ”There’s only 23, 24 games, whatever it is http://www.officialcanucks.com/authentic-adidas-bo-horvat-jersey , left and you need every point you can get.”Ryan Getzlaf and Kase also scored for Anaheim in the shootout. Gibson made 36 saves for the Ducks, 4-1-1 in their past six.”It’s going to come down to the wire. That point could end up being huge for us later on, you never know,” Ritchie said.Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker scored in regulation for Minnesota, Nino Niederreiter and Zach Parise connected in in the shootout, and Dubnyk made 28 saves.Minnesota ended a five-game homestand 2-1-2 and is 20-5-6 at Xcel Energy Center, including points in 14 of its last 15. However, Minnesota is 11-15-1 away from home. The Wild will play 14 of their final 24 games on the road, including the next three games in and near New York City.”We had some good games and some areas where we definitely need to get better but overall we definitely had a solid homestand. Now it’s on the road and we have to make sure we get better and better every game,” Niederreiter said. ”We’re definitely on the right track. Even today, the guys played very good and at the end of the day, we lost in a shootout so sometimes you have that luck on your side. Sometimes you don’t.”Anaheim won for the third time in 22 games when trailing after two periods. Kase tied it at 2 at 6:12 of the third, stopping a point shot from Hampus Lindholm, shifting the puck to his forehand and tucking it past Dubnyk. Kase has five goals in seven games.Perry and Koivu scored in the first Youth Brandon Sutter Jersey , and Zucker gave the Wild a 2-1 lead with his career-high 23rd goal midway through the second, tipping in a shot from Nate Prosser. Initially waved off for being touched by a high stick, it was deemed a good goal after the four officials conferred near the penalty box.NOTES: Eleven rounds is the longest shootout in Minnesota history. Anaheim went 14 rounds in a Nov. 22, 2016, home loss to the Islanders. … Anaheim C Ryan Kesler missed the game with a lower-body injury. Considered day-to-day, he’d played 22 straight games since returning Dec. 27 from offseason hip surgery. … Minnesota scratched LW Tyler Ennis for the first time in 10 games – and third time this season. He was replaced by RW Chris Stewart, a healthy scratch for the past five games.UP NEXTDucks: At Vegas on Monday night.Wild: At New York Islanders on Monday.— TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs will be out to regain momentum Saturday night and the St. Louis Blues would like to start some momentum of their own.The Maple Leafs (6-2-0) had a five-game winning streak end Thursday night with a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and will be trying to resume winning when they host the Blues (1-3-2).“We’re obviously (upset) and disappointed that we didn’t get the result,” said Maple Leafs center John Tavares, who took seven shots Thursday. “It’s a good learning opportunity and it’s a good test now to try to find that momentum back and get back in the win column.”Article continues below ...The Blues have lost twice in overtime and could not hold third-period leads three times. The Montreal Canadiens defeated them 3-2 Wednesday on Brendan Gallagher’s goal at 19:49 of the third period.“Bottom line, we’re faced with some adversity right now,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “For me, this is when we’ll really see what people have to bring. This is when you really say something to your teammates. This is when you really show your character.“Obviously, I’ve got to do a better job as head coach, making sure we’re prepared to play Brendan Leipsic Jersey Kids , making sure we’re ready to play the right way. Making sure that guys who aren’t, are held accountable. And making sure that we get the right guys on the ice.”St. Louis can take some encouragement knowing that both Toronto losses came at home.The game will also be a homecoming for former Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak, who signed as a free agent with the Blues on July 1. He has one goal and one assist in six games this season.“He’s a real good hockey player, real good hockey sense, real good faceoff guy, good in the power play,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Friday at practice. “I thought his last year here was his best in the three years that I had him and obviously he’ll be an important part for them.”Bozak played between Pat Maroon and Alexander Steen for the first time in Montreal and that line could remain intact for the game Saturday. They line combined for eight shots on goal.In a Thursday practice in Toronto, two-time All-Star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester was used on the fourth pairing with Jakub Jerabek, leading to speculation that he might not play against the Maple Leafs.“Obviously, we’re considering everything right now,” Yeo said. “Again, the results that we’re getting, we have to consider everything.”Bouwmeester, 35 http://www.officialcanucks.com/authentic-adidas-brock-boeser-jersey , was limited to 35 games last season because of a fractured ankle and a hip injury that resulted in surgery.The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, had more than a winning streak stopped Thursday. Center Auston Matthews had at least two points in each of the first seven games until Thursday when the Maple Leafs were shut out for the first time this season. He has 10 goals and six assists despite being without a goal in his past two games.One of the keys to the Penguins’ success Thursday was that they kept the Maple Leafs on the outside, limiting close-in chances so that many of Toronto’s 38 shots (Pittsburgh took 39) were not dangerous.“I think there are a lot of things that we can improve on,” Matthews said. “It seems like they were just calm, cool, collected out there. They didn’t run around, they just played smart and didn’t force anything and made plays. It seemed like they had us running around quite a bit.”The Maple Leafs were in it until the Penguins scored twice on an empty net.“I think we’ve got to do a little better just sustaining some of the momentum we create,” Tavares said.