Mighty Ducks 6, Blues 3

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Jean-Sebastien Giguere had plenty to overcome to notch his 100th regular-season victory. Mostly, his own unsteady play.

Giguere gave up a goal on the first shot he faced Wednesday night against St. Louis and surrendered a couple more after his teammates staked him to an early four-goal lead.

But Joe DiPenta stopped the Blues' momentum in the third period with his first goal of the season and the Mighty Ducks coasted to a 6-3 victory.

"These are the type of games I don't love to play in," said Giguere, who made 22 saves. "There's no flow, there's a lot of penalties, and when your team is doing so well in the other zone, it's kind of hard to stay focused.

"Any goal or any mistake can give them a little bit of life, which they don't have at 5-1. But we got the win. The guys have been scoring a lot of goals lately, and I've been giving up more than usual, so it's good that we can still win some games."

Temmu Selanne scored on Anaheim's first shot, Andy McDonald had two goals and an assist, and Samuel Pahlsson scored short-handed during Anaheim's four-goal first period. Tyler Wright also scored and Petr Sykora had two assists.

"I thought it was a masterpiece," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said, jokingly. "It was a game where we were able to get things going in a positive direction after the first shift. We had a few miscues and we took a penalty right off the bat, but we were able to regroup and get enough pucks past their goaltenders."

Dean McAmmond, Dennis Wideman and Eric Brewer scored for the Blues, who are an NHL-worst 7-20-4. They have allowed at least five goals in 15 of 31 games this season and eight of their last 12.

"No one feels bad for you. No one cares, really, except for the guys in this room and in our organization," Doug Weight said. "I'm proud that we stuck up for ourselves. We played with some heart and made it a game, at least. But it's just not enough right now. This is as frustrated as I've been in my career, so it's a great challenge."

The Ducks built a 4-1 lead through the first 11:09, setting a franchise record for the fastest four goals from the opening faceoff. The previous mark was 13:49, against Canadiens goaltender Andy Moog in a 5-4 win at Montreal in 1998.

Blues center Petr Cajanek was serving a hooking penalty when McDonald converted a rebound of Scott Niedermayer's 45-foot wrist shot at 7:59 of the first period to snap a 1-1 tie.

Pahlsson made it 3-1, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush with Jonathan Hedstrom while Ducks rookie Francois Beauchemin was off for hooking. It was only the second short-handed goal this season against St. Louis and the seventh by Anaheim.

The Ducks had a 13-2 advantage in shots at that point, and Blues coach Mike Kitchen replaced rookie goaltender Jason Bacashihua with Reinhard Divis, who surrendered Anaheim's fourth goal on the first shot he faced. Wright scored from in front of the crease after a turnover behind the net by defenseman Bryce Salvador, who misplayed a backhanded pass along the end boards from teammate Ryan Johnson.

The Ducks have six days off before their next game at Columbus.

"We're fortunate enough that we're going to have four days of nothing" Giguere said. "I think it's important for guys to let go and decompress a little bit, just think about something else and spend some time with our families. We have a bunch of guys going back to their hometowns, so it's good to just take a step back, just relax and enjoy the holidays and come back fresh."

Notes: Giguere, the 2003 playoff MVP, recorded his first NHL victory with the Hartford/Carolina franchise, and his next seven with Calgary before the Flames traded him to Anaheim in June 2000 for a draft pick. ... The Blues, who beat Phoenix 5-4 Tuesday night despite getting outshot 37-14, were outshot 36-25 by the Ducks. ... Scott Niedermayer was named to the Canadian Olympic team on Wednesday, four years after helping lead Team Canada to Olympic gold at Salt Lake City. He is the only player to win an Olympic gold medal, a Stanley Cup title, and play for the winning team in the World Championships, the World Cup of Hockey, the Memorial Cup and the World Juniors. ... Blues RW Mike Sillinger was scratched because of the flu.