Ducks beat Oilers to close in on division crown

[April 22, 2013]  EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Cam Fowler, Kyle Palmieri and Corey Perry scored to help put the Anaheim Ducks on the brink of clinching the Pacific Division with a 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Sunday night.

The Ducks could have clinched the division title if the Los Angeles Kings lost to Dallas in regulation, but that game went to overtime. Anaheim can also seal it with another win over the Oilers in the rematch in Edmonton on Monday.

Taylor Hall scored for the Oilers, who lost for the seventh time in eight games to extend their playoff drought to seven years.

Edmonton had a quick start, scoring exactly one minute in when Hall notched his 15th of the season as he came in off the boards to beat Ducks starter Jonas Hiller between the legs with a wrist shot from the right face-off dot.

The Ducks evened it up with just 1.1 seconds remaining in the period as Oilers center Jerred Smithson broke his stick on the faceoff and Fowler was able to pick up a rebound and bank in his first of the year off goalie Devan Dubnyk's pads.

Anaheim took a 2-1 lead with just under a minute to play in the second period when Palmieri tried to get a pass through to Teemu Selanne on a 2-on-1, but the pass was blocked by a diving Ladislav Smid. However, Palmieri was able to dig the puck out from under Smid and deposit his 10th of the year behind Dubnyk.

The Ducks went up 3-1 midway through the third when Ryan Getzlaf made a great move to walk around Smid and then sent a backhand pass in front for Perry, who had an easy tap-in for the goal.

The Ducks hit the post twice with Dubnyk pulled for the final two minutes.

NOTES: It was the second of three meetings between the two teams this season. Anaheim came in as the winners of their last nine in Edmonton and 12 of the last 14 meetings overall. ... The Oilers announced Sunday that 2011 first overall draft pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is out for the remainder of the season as he likely requires shoulder surgery. ... Edmonton Fs Ales Hemsky (foot), Eric Belanger (groin) and Lennart Petrell (leg) are also probably done for the year. ... Anaheim was missing Luca Sbisa (upper body) and D Sheldon Souray (lower body). ... Edmonton's last playoff appearance was its Game 7 loss in the 2006 Stanley Cup final to Carolina.

[Associated Press]

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