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 Corey Perry had a goal and two assists, and Jamie McGinn scored his
second goal in two games with his new team as Anaheim rolled over
the Arizona Coyotes 5-1 Thursday at Gila River Arena.
The Ducks (36-19-8) matched a franchise record with their 10th
consecutive win, a mark that was set from Dec. 6-28, 2013. Anaheim
is 17-1-1 in its past 19 games and 24-4-2 since the Christmas break.
Anaheim also earned a point in a 12th game in a row (11-0-1). Both
streaks are the longest active runs in the NHL and are indicative of
Anaheim's 180-degree turn from an abysmal start to the season.
"I'm proud of the group, from where we've come to where we are now,"
Ducks center Ryan Kesler said. "We all believed in this room and we
stuck together. We could have easily folded up the season and said
we'll get them next year, but we didn't. We came back from a deep
hole, hovered around .500 for a while and finally broke through."
Getzlaf was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury, but Anaheim
didn't miss him against the Coyotes. The Ducks scored on their first
two shots and Coyotes goalie Niklas Treutle, who was making his
first NHL start, stopped just 11 of 16 shots before he was replaced
by Louis Domingue.
After the game, Ariozna coach Dave Tippett was asked if he regretted
starting Treutle against the NHL's hottest team.
"I'll take the responsibility," said Tippett, whose team dropped its
season-high seventh consecutive game. "We put a young player in a
position he's not ready for.
"We had no choice. Louis has played 11 straight; looked tired on the
road. That's where we are. We have to get Louis a break."
Neither Domingue nor Treutle was expected to play in the NHL this
season, but injuries to starter Mike Smith and backup Anders
Lindback put the Coyotes (27-31-6) in this position.
Frederik Andersen made 27 saves for Anaheim, which is tied with Los
Angeles for first place in the Pacific Division ahead of a showdown
on Saturday.
"It doesn't matter where you end up, you're going to play a really
good team in the playoffs," said Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, whose
team faces the Kings on Saturday. "You always like to beat the Kings
and be ahead of them but it doesn't mean anything in the whole
scheme of things. The most important thing is what happens in April,
May and June."
Arizona won its first three games against Anaheim this season but
dropped the final two to fall 10 points off the Western Conference
wild-card pace. The Coyotes are 5-15-2 in their past 22 games.
Treutle got off to inauspicious start when he mishandled a dump-in
behind the net early in the first period. Treutle banked a passing
attempt off Perry's shin pads and onto McGinn's stick behind the
net.
With Treutle scrambling to get back in the net, McGinn banked the
puck off the goalie and in at 4:52 of the first period. It was
Anaheim's first shot on goal and McGinn's second goal in two games
since coming over in a trade-deadline deal from Buffalo.
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The Ducks also scored on their second shot of the game. With Coyotes
left winger Jordan Martinook off for high-sticking, Perry set up
Rickard Rakell with a perfect backdoor feed and the center banged it
in the open side for a 2-0 lead at the 5:38 mark.
Anaheim went 3 for 7 on the power play and has scored 17 power-play
goals and at least one in all 10 games of the winning streak.
"I don't know how many penalties we took," Coyotes center Martin
Hanzal said. "That's (Niklas') first NHL game. We've got to play
better defensively in front of him. We didn't really help him
tonight."
Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler widened the lead to 3-0 on a power play
at 1:33 of the second period when he hammered a shot from the point
into the far side of the net with Perry cutting across Treutle's
vision.
Anthony Duclair put the Coyotes on the board when he beat Andresen
from the slot on the power play at 9:02 of the second period. It was
Duclair's sixth goal in five games against the Ducks, and his 17th
of the season.
Kesler helped restore the three-goal lead when he cut across the
high slot and sent a perfect backhand pass to Josh Manson at the far
post for an easy tap-in and a 4-1 lead at 13:59 of the second
period.
Anaheim put the game out of reach when Perry scored on a rebound of
defenseman Kevin Bieksa's shot with 59.9 seconds left in the period
for a 5-1 lead. Perry has five goals and three assists in his last
three games.
Domingue stopped all five shots he faced in the third period.
NOTES: Coyotes D Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Sweden) and C Martin Hanzal
(Czech Republic) were named to their nation's initial rosters for
the World Cup of Hockey this fall in Toronto. ... Ducks C Ryan
Getzlaf (Canada), C Ryan Kesler (USA) G John Gibson (North America),
D Sami Vatanen (Finland) and G Frederik Andersen (Europe) were also
named to World Cup rosters. The tournament will be held in Toronto
Sept. 17-Oct. 1. ... Getzlaf was a late scratch with a lower-body
injury. He is listed as day-to-day. ... Coyotes C Boyd Gordon (hand)
was upgraded to day-to-day. Gordon hasn't played since blocking a
shot with his hand Feb. 4 against Chicago. ... Ducks RW Jakob
Silfverberg is 18 for 29 in career shootout attempts. His 62.1
percent success rate is tops all-time among players with a minimum
of 20 attempts. ... Recently acquired Coyotes LW Alex Tanguay (lower
body) and D Zbynek Michalek (lower body) missed the game and are
day-to-day.
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