Selanne Moves Up on List With Hat Trick

[February 25, 2008]  ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Teemu Selanne had his 20th career three-goal game to overtake Rocket Richard for 25th place on the career goal list, and also recorded his 600th assist to lead the Anaheim Ducks to a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night.

Selanne, whose 47 goals during the 1998-99 season made him the first recipient of the Maurice Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goal scorer, increased his career total to 546. Selanne has played in 1051 regular-season games -- 73 more than Richard, who in 1944-45 became the first player in league history to score 50 goals in 50 games.

The Ducks' 10-time All-Star has six goals and five assists in 10 games after sitting out the first half of the season contemplating retirement. The defending Stanley Cup champions are 9-1-0 since his return to the lineup.

Patrick Sharp had two goals and an assist for Chicago, increasing his career high total to 31 and becoming the Blackhawks' first 30-goal scorer since Eric Daze finished the 2001-02 season with 38. Rookie Jonathan Toews had three assists.

The Ducks lost All-Star defenseman and team captain Chris Pronger with a bruised jaw on a freak play at 13:52 of the second period. Toews won a faceoff from Getzlaf deep in the Anaheim zone and Sharp scored on a short wrist shot to cut the Ducks' lead to 4-2, but the blade of his stick inadvertently struck Pronger on the follow through.

Patrick Lalime, starting in net for the second straight game because of Nikolai Khabibulin's back spasms, allowed two goals on Anaheim's first five shots and was pulled temporarily at 8:38 of the first period after Getzlaf got a return pass from Corey Perry and beat him between the pads for his 21st goal.

Selanne opened the scoring on a power play at 7:45 of the first, converting a short centering pass from Getzlaf in tight quarters at the edge of the crease. Selanne made it 3-0, beating rookie Corey Crawford from a sharp angle about 10 feet to the left of the net while Martin Havlat was off for hooking.

Sharp got Chicago on the board at 18:11 of the first. Lalime, who squandered a four-goal lead in the third period against Los Angeles on Saturday before the Blackhawks won on Sharp's overtime goal, was back in net for the start of the second period. He gave up a goal by Kent Huskins less than 2 1/2 minutes later, restoring the Ducks' three-goal margin.

Selanne completed his hat trick about 3 minutes later and set up Chris Kunitz's goal after another 44 seconds had elapsed.

The victory was Anaheim's fourth straight and fifth in a row against Chicago. The Ducks are 16-1-2 against the Blackhawks since the start of the 2002-03 season, and 9-0-3 over the last 11 meetings in Anaheim. The Blackhawks have won only once in regulation in their last 20 road games against the Ducks, winning one other time in a shootout.

Notes: Chicago has had at least one set of back-to-back road games against the Ducks and Kings in every season since the NHL expanded to Anaheim for the 1993-94 season (20 total). The Blackhawks have swept both games twice and lost both on eight other occasions.

[Associated Press]

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