The Anaheim Ducks right winger, though, practically dismisses the
feat. Instead, he heaps praise on his teammates.
"You have to give a lot of credit to everybody around me," said
Perry, who scored twice, including one shot he converted from his
knees, to lead the Ducks to a 5-2 victory over the New York
Islanders on Monday night at Honda Center. "We've established
ourselves, and we want to play the same way each and every night,
and I think we've been doing that."
Perry leads the club with 20 goals and is second with 35 points,
including nine in the past six games.
The Ducks (21-7-5) shook off a sluggish start to prevail over the
woeful Islanders (8-18-5).
"We didn't come out and play hockey in the first period," said
Anaheim center Ryan Getzlaf, who had an assist, extending his points
streak to the past 12 games he played. "We weren't ready to go. We
weren't making the plays that we normally make. It was
uncharacteristic."
Defenseman Cam Fowler had a goal and two assists as the Ducks won
their third in a row. Anaheim center Daniel Winnik added a
career-high three assists.
New York suffered its 10th consecutive loss and also dropped its
10th road game in a row.
"It's the same old story," New York defenseman Thomas Hickey said.
"Bottom line is we just have to win. It has to be the end result.
It's no longer what you did good, you've got to win. It is
frustrating as hell, and it's tough right now."
Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller finished with 35 saves, while New York
goalie Anders Nilsson stopped 26 shots.
Goals in the final 33 seconds of the second period by Perry and
Fowler propelled the Ducks.
Fowler gave the Ducks the lead for good, scoring a short-handed goal
by cashing in a miss from left winger Matt Beleskey for a 3-2
advantage.
Perry delivered 31 seconds later despite losing his balance when he
was tripped by defenseman Calvin de Haan after fielding a pass from
Winnik. Perry fired from his knees just outside the crease to give
the Ducks a 4-2 lead with two seconds left in the period.
[to top of second column] |
"(Winnik) shot it to me, and I knew it was only a few seconds
that I had to make a move," Perry said. "The guy tripped me as I
was falling to my knees, and I shot it. It found a way to squeak
in, I guess. I'm just happy it went in.
Perry added a power-play goal at 7:40 of the third.
The Islanders scored first, taking advantage of an interference
penalty on Anaheim defenseman Mark Fistric. New York center John
Tavares produced a power-play goal at 9:17 of the first period.
Ducks center Saku Koivu rebounded a miss by Fowler and scored
for a 1-1 tie with 4:06 remaining in the first.
New York regained the lead early in the second. Left winger
Thomas Vanek, with an assist from Tavares, grabbed a loose puck
after a face-off and slipped it past Hiller for a 2-1 lead at
4:17.
Anaheim tied it at 2 as Winnik, with his back to the net,
dropped a pass through the legs of Hickey and connected with
center Andrew Cogliano, who ripped the puck into the net at
12:41 of the second.
NOTES: Islanders C Ryan Strome is expected to join the club
Tuesday when it visits the San Jose Sharks, according to
Newsday. Strome, the club's 2011 first-round pick, has scored
nine goals and recorded 24 assists in 23 games with Bridgeport
of the AHL. The Islanders waived C Pierre-Marc Bouchard to make
room for Strome. ... The Ducks' line of C Ryan Getzlaf, RW Corey
Perry and LW Dustin Penner leads the NHL in combined goals with
45 and ranks second in combined points with 95. Pittsburgh's
line of Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin is first
with 112 points. ... Ducks D Mark Fistric left the game with a
lower-body injury and did not return. ... New York managed just
16 goals in its past 10 outings, resulting in an 0-8-2 mark. ...
The announced crowd was 14,830.
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