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 The Ducks, who also kicked off the league's 91st season in London with a two-game set against the Los Angeles Kings, will begin the defense of their Stanley Cup championship at home against Dallas. They were fourth in the Western Conference with 102 points and a 47-27-8 record.
Anaheim captain Chris Pronger returned to the Ducks' lineup for the finale after serving an eight-game suspension imposed by the NHL for stomping on the leg of Vancouver's Ryan Kesler. The Ducks were 6-2 during his absence.
Daniel Carcillo opened the scoring for the Coyotes on a power play at 15:11 of the second period against goalie Jonas Hiller and added his 13th of the season with 16 minutes remaining. Center Kyle Turris, the third overall pick in the draft, recorded his first NHL point with his assist on Carcillo's first goal.
Hiller, whose steady improvement led to the Ducks putting Bryzgalov on waivers Nov. 16, stopped 32 shots
-- including Peter Mueller's breakaway with 1:44 left in overtime. He thwarted Mueller again on the Coyotes' first attempt in the shootout, which Anaheim won by a 3-2 margin.
Hiller was 10-7-1 as Jean-Sebastien Giguere's backup. Bryzgalov who was immediately picked up by Phoenix after the Ducks released him, was 26-22-5 with the Coyotes and 28-25-6 overall.
Getzlaf was Anaheim's leading scorer with 81 points, setting a club record for centers with 58 assists.
Corey Perry finished with a team-high 29 goals despite missing the final 12 games after his quad was cut by the skate of Colorado goalie Jose Theodore on March 6. It was the lowest total to lead the Ducks in a regulation season since their inaugural 1993-94 campaign, when Bob Corkum had 23 goals.
Anaheim began the season without stalwarts Teemu Selanne and defenseman Scott Niedermayer, both of whom were considering retirement before rejoining the team.
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The Ducks turned their season around with a 10-2-1 February. They were 32-12-4 after the return of Niedermayer to the lineup on Feb. 16, which was the same day center Doug Weight played his first game for them after being acquired from St. Louis in a trade that sent popular forward Andy McDonald to St. Louis. They are 20-5-1 since Selanne suited up for the first time on Feb. 5.
Phoenix, which will miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season and third under coach Wayne Gretzky, finished 12th in the West with a 38-37-7 record and were 21-17-3 on the road. Captain Shane Doan was their leading scorer with a career-high 78 points and had a team-high 28 goals.
Notes: The team Anaheim beat in last year's finals, the Ottawa Senators, were seventh in the Eastern Conference with 94 points and a 43-31-8 mark. ... Since the Edmonton Oilers completed their run of five Stanley Cup titles over a seven-year span in 1990, only four defending Cup champions had more wins the season after winning the championship than the Ducks had this season. Pittsburgh had 56 in 1992-93, Colorado 49 in 1996-97, Detroit 48 in 2002-03 and New Jersey 48 in 2000-01. ... Phoenix did not get a penalty the entire game. The Ducks got only two, finishing with a league-high 1,481 penalty minutes. ... LW Chris Kunitz, D Francois Beauchemin and D Sean O'Donnell played in every game for the Ducks. D Keith Ballard and D Derek Morris did likewise for Phoenix.
[Associated Press]
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