|
 Goalie Frederik Andersen earned his fifth successive victory and
stopped 23 shots as the Ducks routed the Arizona Coyotes 5-2 Friday
night at the Honda Center.
Right wingers Corey Perry and Mike Santorelli, left wingers Andrew
Cogliano and Patrick Maroon and defenseman Hampus Lindholm scored
for the Ducks, who lost the previous three meetings with the Coyotes
while being outscored 12-5.
"Obviously, they took it to us three games in a row," Maroon said.
"This is a huge game to let them know we're going to be there the
rest of the year. We've got to make them feel they can't beat us."
Anaheim (25-18-7) extended its season-high winning streak to six
games and moved three points ahead of the fourth-place Coyotes
(24-22-6) in the race for third place, the Pacific Division's final
automatic playoff spot.
"This is by far the funnest time of the year," Maroon said. "This is
where the best teams come out, the best players come out."
The Ducks have compiled a 12-3-1 record since Dec. 26 and have
scored 35 goals in their past nine games.
"Bruce has found a good mix of in terms of finding guys to create
depth," Cogliano said of Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau. "I think our
team is really hard to defend right now. Guys are just feeling much
better with the puck. Our defense gets the puck out of our end
really fast, and it seems like it's creating offense for us."
Right winger Shane Doan scored his team-leading 19th goal and added
an assist for Arizona. Left winger Tobias Rieder contributed a goal,
while goalie Anders Lindback made 36 saves, two fewer than his
season high. Nevertheless, the Coyotes absorbed their fourth loss in
a row and their seventh in nine games.
"We've been told that we've done OK, but we've got lots to improve,"
Doan said. "These next 20 games are huge for us. As a young group,
we're going to have to make sure we stay alert. You can't try to
pick it up in the last 10 games and think you're going to make up
ground."
Perry's 21st goal of the season broke a 2-2 tie at 2:07 of the third
period. After center Rickard Rakell received a pass at the right
post, Lindback fell in anticipation of a shot. Instead, Rakell
passed to an onrushing Perry, who converted a wrist shot from the
slot over the prone Lindback.
Then at 3:48, Anaheim exploited another overreaction from Lindback
to build a two-goal lead. With defenseman Kevin Bieksa holding the
puck at the right circle, Lindback charged forward. Bieksa then
passed to Cogliano, who deposited the puck inside the left post for
his fifth goal.
Maroon, who had a goal disallowed by video replay about nine minutes
into the final period, ended the scoring with a power-play goal at
16:25.
Rieder needed only 1 minute, 34 seconds after the opening faceoff to
convert Perry's turnover into a 1-0 lead. After Maroon dug out the
puck from the boards behind the right circle, Rakell sent a pass
that hit Perry's left skate. Perry responded by blindly poking the
puck forward.
[to top of second column] |
Doan secured the loose puck near the right post and passed to
Rieder, who converted a wrist shot inside the left post for his 11th
goal.
Anaheim right winger Chris Stewart had a chance to tie the score
roughly seven minutes into the first period, but his shot from the
left circle on a two-on-one rush hit the inside of the left post and
ricocheted through the crease.
The Ducks scored twice within 66 seconds during the second period to
move ahead 2-1. Lindholm registered his third goal in three games
and his sixth of the season with a wrist shot from the right point
four minutes into the period.
The hosts then used a turnover to take the lead at 5:06. When
Lindback fanned on a pass from the trapezoid behind the net, right
winger Mike Santorelli swooped in to steal the puck. With Lindback
out of position, Santorelli backhanded it inside the right post for
his sixth goal.
Doan tied the score nearly 10 minutes later on a power play with his
team-leading 19th goal. The Coyotes' captain received center Antoine
Vermette's pass from the right circle and swept the puck under
Andersen's right pad at 14:55.
With the goal, Doan moved within one point of the club's all-time
record, held by Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk, and he equaled
Hawerchuk's team record for career power-play goals, 122.
"It was big for us to tie it up on the power play," Doan said. "At
the same time, we really didn't sustain any pressure. We didn't get
the puck in the zone as easily as we normally do."
NOTES: Arizona scratched D Klas Dahlbeck, C Boyd Gordon and D
Nicklas Grossmann. ... Coyotes RW Viktor Tikhonov is the grandson
and namesake of the fabled coach who guided the former Soviet Union
to three Olympic gold medals and nine world championships. ...
Coyotes RW Shane Doan passed Hall of Famer John Bucyk and moved into
seventh place in games played with one team. Doan made his 1,437th
appearance for the franchise. Bucyk played 21 of his 23 seasons with
the Boston Bruins. ... Coyotes LW Kyle Chipchura played his 300th
game with the team. ... Anaheim scratched D Korbinian Holzer and C
Harry Zolnierczyk. ... Anaheim is challenging the 2011-12 New Jersey
Devils for the best penalty-killing rate for one season (89.6
percent). The Ducks defused a league-best 89.4 percent of opponents'
power plays entering Friday, when they killed four of five.
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