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 Instead, they looked back on opening night, when they were
embarrassed by the Colorado Avalanche.
It turned out to be the right strategy to end a frustrating week.
Center Kyle Palmieri scored two goals in a span of 47 seconds in
Anaheim's big second period and the Ducks beat the Avalanche 6-4 on
Friday night.
Right winger Corey Perry scored his team-leading 36th goal and
center Daniel Winnik and defenseman Ben Lovejoy also had goals for
the Ducks, who stopped a four-game skid with six goals in the second
period.
The six goals in one period set a franchise record.
More important for the Ducks, they righted their ship after being
outscored 17-8 in the last four games.
"We talked about Colorado the past two days, the first game how they
embarrassed us," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We wanted to more
than make up for that."
They did, and stayed tied for first place with San Jose in the
Pacific Division with a game in hand on the Sharks. San Jose beat
the New York Islanders earlier Friday night.
The Sharks caught the Ducks after their worst stretch of the season.
It was capped by a 7-2 loss to Calgary on Wednesday. Goaltender
Jonas Hiller was pulled after allowing three goals on five shots to
the Flames. He had 34 saves against the Avalanche.
"I think it was just desperation," Winnik said. "We haven't been
playing very good and I think we are finally just sick and tired of
chasing the third period. We just really focused on playing that
simple game."
Semyon Varlamov, Colorado's usually steady goalie, skated off after
giving up five goals in just 31:53. Lovejoy chased him when his shot
caromed off the backboards before going in off Varlamov's left leg
to give the Ducks a 5-2 lead.
"All I was trying to do was create a rebound off the end boards and
got a lucky bounce," Lovejoy said. "My ninth grade (geometry) class
helped me tonight."
It was Anaheim's fifth goal in a span of 8:45 and brought on former
Ducks netminder Jean-Sebeastien Giguere.
"We couldn't stop the bleeding," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said.
Avalanche left winger Jamie McGinn scored two goals and center John
Mitchell and left winger Gabe Landeskog had one each.
The Avalanche retained their hold on second place in the Central
Division after Chicago lost at home to Nashville but failed to put
some distance between themselves and the Blackhawks.
"We just weren't good enough defensively," Avalanche center Matt
Duchene said. "It's disappointing. This was a big game for us."
McGinn gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead before the Ducks' offensive
explosion. Goals by McGinn and Landeskog 38 seconds apart late in
the second period cut the deficit to one, but Anaheim left winger
Mathieu Perreault made it 6-4 with a redirect 30 seconds later.
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"I've never been in a period where we scored six goals. We kept
saying, 'shoot the puck, shoot the puck,' because it had eyes
tonight," Boudreau said. "You've got to take advantage because we've
had too many nights where goalies stood on their head against us."
There were no goals in the third period but plenty of action.
Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson received a match penalty after he
cross-checked Perreault in the face at 2:07.
Then, after center Nathan MacKinnon had a goal disallowed because of
a high stick with 6:08 remaining, things got chippy.
After a scrum in front of both benches, Avalanche left winger
Patrick Bordeleau reached across the partition between the benches
and pushed Anaheim left winger Patrick Maroon.
Both players were given game misconducts.
It was reminiscent of opening night between the teams when Colorado
coach Patrick Roy took exception to a hit on MacKinnon late in the
Avalanche's 6-1 win. He slammed the glass between the benches while
shouting at Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau.
Roy was fined $10,000 by the NHL for his actions.
"I learned my lesson," Roy said. "I was quiet."
The Ducks also lost defenseman Cam Fowler to a lower-body injury in
the second period.
"Bordeleau hit him," Boudreau said. "I thought it was a little
dirty, but what are you going to do?"
Mitchell, who signed a three-year, $5.4 million contract extension a
few hours before the game, scored when his shot went through the
legs of center Nathan MacKinnon to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.
Up to that point, the Ducks had dominated. Anaheim had outshot the
Avalanche 13-3 before Mitchell scored, but Colorado finished the
period with the last nine shots.
"To come in here with a one-goal deficit was a little bit hard to
swallow because we played hard in the first period," Anaheim center
Ryan Getzlaf said. "We just couldn't put one in the net. We did the
right things in the second period and got rewarded for it."
NOTES: Avalanche C Paul Stastny missed his third straight game with
a back injury. He is considered day to day. ... Anaheim D Ben
Lovejoy returned to the lineup after missing Wednesday's game with
the flu. ... The Avalanche signed C John Mitchell to a three-year
contract extension. Additionally, Colorado signed G Reto Berra to a
three-year contract. Both deals are through the 2016-17 season. ...
The Ducks reassigned C Rickard Rakell to Norfolk of the AHL on
Thursday. ... Berra is tentatively scheduled to make his Avalanche
debut on Wednesday when the team finishes a three-game road trip in
Winnipeg.
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