ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Anaheim Ducks realize theyre in for plenty of tight defensive games in the next seven weeks while the rest of the NHL attempts to catch them atop the standings. In their first game back from the Olympic break, Jonas Hiller and the Ducks handled the pressure splendidly. Hiller made 18 saves in his fifth shutout of the season, Andrew Cogliano scored in the opening minutes, and the NHL-leading Anaheim Ducks returned with a 1-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night. With help from a few Blues shots off his posts, Hiller came back strong from the break after posting two shutouts for Switzerland in Sochi. Coglianos early goal off a neutral-zone turnover stood up in a hard-hitting, choppy game between two of the NHLs best teams. "We learned we can keep up with one of the toughest teams in the league," said Hiller, who matched his career high for shutouts in a season. "On a close game, everybody tries to play as tight as possible. You know you cant let up at all." The Ducks were the NHLs final team to resume play, giving extra rest to gold medallists Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry and bronze medallist Teemu Selanne. Anaheim likely needed the break after losing three of its last four before the Olympics, getting shut out twice during just its second significant skid of the entire season. Coach Bruce Boudreau earned his 300th career victory as Anaheim swept the season series with the Blues. With 89 points from 61 games, the Ducks are five points ahead of St. Louis, Chicago and Pittsburgh in the overall NHL standings. "It was a good first game for us in terms of the competition," Cogliano said. "It was really high-paced. Its good to jump into a game like that. ... To hold them to 18 shots is something were proud of." Cogliano put the Ducks ahead just 3:39 in with a breakaway goal set up by Saku Koivus pass. The speedy Coglianos goal was his 18th, matching his career high with 21 games left in the regular season. Brian Elliott stopped 18 shots for the Blues just a few hours after St. Louis acquired star goalie Ryan Miller in a five-player trade with the Buffalo Sabres that included goalie Jaroslav Halak. St. Louis still hasnt scored after the break, taking its first two shutout losses of the season. Vancouver also beat the Blues 1-0 on Wednesday night. "Weve just got to put a couple in the net and well get going," Blues defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk said. "Were creating the chances. Were doing a great job of that. But theyre one of the toughest teams. Thats a team were probably going to have to compete against down the road." The Blues made a major move for their post-season stretch about three hours before the puck dropped in Anaheim, acquiring Miller and agitator Steve Ott from Buffalo in a deal for Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, two draft picks and Halak, the Slovak Olympian who has been with St. Louis since 2010. "Its tough when friends leave, when you get to know families and get in personal relationships with those guys," said St. Louis captain David Backes, Millers teammate with the U.S. Olympic team. "But from a hockey standpoint, the management and ownership is really committed to winning, and winning now, and thats partly shown in the move weve made. Ryan Miller is an all-world goalie that has shown it time and time again." Miller and Ott wont join St. Louis until this weekend in Phoenix, so the Blues backup goalie was Jeff Tyni, the Ducks locker room attendant. Both teams attempted to make up for their post-break rust with aggressive physical play. Backes and Perry fought in the first period, extending their personal feud. Adding to the Canada-U.S. rivalry vibe, Getzlaf and T.J. Oshie also nearly dropped gloves during the same prolonged scuffle. NOTES: Ducks C Mathieu Perreault left the game early in the third period with an upper-body injury after taking a big hit. ... Stewart was traded on a Blues-Ducks gameday for the second time. St. Louis acquired Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk from Colorado on Feb. 19, 2011, and Stewart made his Blues debut against Anaheim later in the day. ... The Ducks scratched F Jakob Silfverberg, who won a silver medal for Sweden last weekend. D Sami Vatanen, who won bronze with Finland and led the Olympic tournament with five assists, is back with Anaheims AHL affiliate in Norfolk. Padres Jerseys China . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. Custom San Diego Padres Jerseys .Y. - Lou Williams scored 21 points and the Toronto Raptors beat New York 81-76 on Monday night in the Knicks preseason home opener. https://www.cheappadresjerseys.us/. Hes still nowhere close to throwing yet. The four-time MVP was in good spirits when he made his first public appearance on the field since having neck surgery Sept. San Diego Padres Store . He is nigh unstoppable against the leagues worst. The 31-year-old dangerman set up two goals and scored two himself as Toronto FC rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the slumping Houston Dynamo 4-2 on Saturday night. Wholesale Padres Jerseys .com) - Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson lost an appeal to have his indefinite suspension overturned, the NFL announced Friday. CEDAR PARK, Texas -- With a two-goal lead early in the second period, Toronto Marlies coach Steve Spott knew the Texas Stars would make a surge in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately for Toronto, that surge was too much to handle as the Stars scored six straight goals and ended the Marlies season with a 6-2 victory on Tuesday. Toronto had built a 2-0 lead on goals by Frazer McLaren and Peter Holland, but Texas charged back with a wild rally late in the second period to spark its trip to the Calder Cup final. "Two mistakes, first we made a bad line change then we took a bad penalty 200-feet from Drew (MacIntyre), and all of sudden its 2-2," Spott said. "Theyre a good team, give them credit, but we made some bad mistakes." After killing off a hooking penalty by Patrik Nemeth, Texas scored on its 26th shot of the game when Mike Hedden tipped home a pass from Ritchie with 2:38 left in the period. Less than a minute later Texas tied the game when Jeffrey scored on the power play. It gave Texas goals on back-to-back shots after Drew MacIntyre had stopped the first 25. Tied 2-2 after the second period, Brett Ritchie and Matej Stransky scored 17 seconds apart to give the Stars a 4-2 lead. Justin Dowling gave the Stars another insurance goal with 5:28 remaining, while Dustin Jeffrey scored his second goal of the night into an empty net. It was Dowlings first game of the series after suffering an arm injury against the Grand Rapids Griffins in Game 5 of the second round.dddddddddddd. Reunited on a line with Hedden and Ritchie, he was on the ice for four of the Stars goals. "I wasnt expecting to play tonight," Dowling said. "Things kind of just unfolded how they did. I benefited a lot from going to Dallas and getting their treatment from their guys up there a Im very grateful to be back." MacIntyre stopped 44-of-49 shots for Toronto and was under siege for most of the night. Cristopher Nilstorp stopped 24-of-26 shots for Texas. His biggest stop came midway through the second period when he stopped Brandon Kozun with the left pad, turning away a flurry by the Marlies and allowed Texas to tie the game later in the frame. "Oh, that was a big save," Stars coach Willie Desjardins. "I thought that was going (in). He made some real good saves a Nilstorp was real solid throughout the series and there were a couple games where he stopped it from getting away on us." Before jostling with the Stars for seven games, the Marlies had rolled through the first two rounds of the playoffs. After the loss on Tuesday, Spott took a moment to look at the future for his young team. "Next year our plan is to take this another step farther," Spott said. "The frustrating thing is we were in a good spot here tonight up 2-0. We just had a couple mental mistakes that cost us." Texas will play the St. Johns IceCaps in the Calder Cup final. Game 1 will be Sunday night in Texas. ' ' '