Skoula’s Shot a Blue-Line Special

This was a moment the Mighty Ducks would like to bottle and save for next season.

Martin Skoula lining up a shot from the blue line, then letting loose with a blast that gets into the net even though the goaltender gets a piece of the puck. It’s why General Manager Bryan Murray went and snatched Skoula from Colorado last month.

Skoula buried a shot with 4 minutes 30 seconds left, giving the Ducks a 1-1 tie with the St. Louis Blues in front of an announced crowd of 12,861 at the Arrowhead Pond Wednesday.

The point was important for the Blues, who are scrambling to make the playoffs. The goal was even bigger for Skoula, who has shaken off his disappointing season with the Avalanche to begin anew in Anaheim.

“It’s like a fresh start,” Skoula said. “Even though I’m not with a first-place team. I’m getting more ice time and more responsibility. That just makes me more confident.”

St. Louis has qualified for the playoffs in 24 consecutive seasons, the longest streak in professional sports. But the Blues find themselves scrambling to get into the postseason. Needing points, the Blues ditched any cautious approach to overtime.

Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere made five saves in overtime, including two quality ones on Keith Tkachuk in the final 40 seconds. That left the Blues in seventh place, one point ahead of Nashville and two ahead of the Kings.

The Ducks, meanwhile, may have a lot to say about who makes the playoffs. In their last nine games, they play seven teams either headed for the playoffs or battling for a playoff spot.

“We don’t have time to think about any other team,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “We have to think about us. The type of year we’ve had, every day you’re trying to find the light.”

The Ducks finally saw the light -- the red one -- after many near misses Wednesday.

Defenseman Niclas Havelid set the goal up, winning a race to get an icing call that gave the Ducks a faceoff in the Blues’ zone.

Sergei Fedorov won the faceoff and Joffrey Lupul managed to slide the puck to Skoula. His shot hit goalie Reinhard Divis in the midsection, then trickled into the net to tie the score 15:30 into the third period.

It was Skoula’s first goal since being acquired from Colorado for defenseman Kurt Sauer on Feb. 21. This is the type of moment Duck officials hope to see more of from Skoula, a former first-round pick whose career seemed to be wallowing in Colorado.

Skoula nearly won the game with a breakaway at the end of overtime but Divis made the save just before the final horn.

“We think Skoula should be a top-end player,” Murray said.

Skoula’s goal got Havelid and Lance Ward off the hook, as they had produced the Ducks’ latest pratfall. Mike Sillinger flipped the puck into the Duck zone, with Havelid and Ward tracking it like a pop fly. Neither saw the other and collided just inside the blue line.

Ryan Johnson picked up the puck and charged the net. Giguere stopped the first shot, but Johnson was able to slide the rebound past Giguere and into the net for a 1-0 lead 13:49 into the second period.

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Duck forward Stanislav Chistov suffered a deep cut on the front of his neck in the third period, which required 16 stitches. Duck officials said that Chistov was not expected to miss any games.... The Ducks re-assigned goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to minor league Cincinnati.