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By Adam Brady
AnaheimDucks.com

ANAHEIM - On a night the movie industry continued the annual ritual of honoring the best in its field, the Ducks also upheld an long-running tradition: beating the Chicago Blackhawks.

Selanne had three goals on the night, the 20th hat trick of his career.

Anaheim’s 6-3 victory over the Blackhawks was the Ducks’ 12th win in the last 13 meetings between the teams, and their 15th in the last 19 at Honda Center. It was also the ninth victory in the last 10 for Anaheim, which was won four straight.

The Ducks erupted for six goals in the game, three by Teemu Selanne, who had five points on the night in taking it to an obviously frustrated Patrick Lalime.

"I had some really good chances," Selanne said. "It was good to see those pucks go in. I got some great passes, so that made the job way easier."

Lalime, starting in place of the injured Nikolai Khabibulin, gave up five of the six goals and had two different incidents in which he went after Ducks forward Todd Bertuzzi.

It was the 20th career hat trick for Selanne, his 11th with Anaheim, the last coming Jan. 11, 2007 against Dallas.

The third goal was some vital insurance for Anaheim in the high-scoring affair, as his redirect from the slot off a gorgeous Chris Kunitz feed gave the Ducks a two-goal lead with 4:32 left.

"Teemu scored some goal-scorer goals," Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said. "He’s had lots of chances. Tonight it was fortunate enough for him and us that he found the back of the net. We’ll take them.  I thought on the offensive side he was pretty dynamic."

Kunitz himself put the game on ice just 44 seconds later, this time on the receiving end from Selanne, as Kunitz skated into the slot and shot a wrister over Lalime’s right shoulder.

"The intuition that Teemu has to get by his guy and go gives us a jump," Kunitz said. "He’s a big spark for our team. We had a little bit of chemistry from years past and it is nice to have that back. It looks like we’ve built it back up a little here."

Selanne’s first goal came 7:45 into the game, a one-timer off a nice feed from the corner by Ryan Getzlaf, beating Lalime on the glove side. The Ducks were 5 on 4 for the first time after Dave Bolland took a hooking call.

Less than a minute later, Getzlaf got the glory on a nice give-and-go with longtime linemate Corey Perry. Getzlaf fed Perry ahead on the left wing, and Perry dropped it back to Getzlaf, who made a pretty move around Hawks rookie Jonathan Toews and shot it underneath Lalime.

That goal chased Lalime temporarily to the bench, as Corey Crawford took Lalime’s spot in net. But Lalime was re-inserted at the start of the second.

While Crawford was still in there Selanne made it 3-0 Ducks with 2:47 left in the period, with the Ducks again on the man advantage after a Martin Havlat hooking call. Selanne again took a Getzlaf pass, this time near the extended goal line, and quickly put a bad-angle shot through.

Getzlaf had three points on the night, giving him 18 points in his last 12 home games.

Chicago’s Patrick Sharp helped keep the opening stanza from being completely Ducks-dominated, as he took a pretty pass from Jason Williams in the corner and deflected it just under the crossbar.

Just 2:27 into the second, the Ducks again took a three-goal lead, as defenseman Kent Huskins pounced on a loose puck and batted it in for his fourth of the year.

But Sharp came right back with a goal that hurt the Ducks more than just on the scoreboard. Sharp’s wrist shot right off the faceoff won by Jonathan Toews not only sailed past Hiller, but Sharp’s stick blade hit Chris Pronger on the mouth on the follow-through. Pronger went flailing to the ice, both gloves flying off his hands. He got up and hurriedly skated off the ice clutching his mouth.

Pronger was later announced to have a jaw contusion and didn’t return.

Getzlaf had a goal and two assists on the night.

The Ducks looked like they made it 5-2 in the second when a Mathieu Schneider slap shot from the point zinged past Lalime. But the official immediately ruled that Bertuzzi interfered with Lalime on the goal, though replays appeared to show Bertuzzi did no such thing. Lalime appeared to think Bertuzzi was out of line, as he slashed the Ducks forward after the puck hit the net and got tagged with a minor.

The ramifications of that play carried over to another sequence 12:20 into the third period, as Bertuzzi tried to make a deke on a 2-on-1 rush with Getzlaf and slammed into Lalime, who had drawn the contact in reaching out to make the save. Lalime immediately punched the prone Bertuzzi in the back of the head and Bertuzzi retaliated with some shots of his own, knocking Lalime’s mask off. That turned into an all-out melee involving all 10 skaters that included a fight between Corey Perry and James Wisniewsky in which Perry took most of the punishment.

Lalime and Bertuzzi both took roughing minors, but Lalime’s was a double minor. 

The Ducks got the best retribution on Lalime with the Selanne and Kunitz goals, which slammed the door on the Hawks.

"We picked it up half way through that road trip," said Kunitz on the Ducks' current winning stretch. "For whatever reason it was, we started to win. Things started bouncing toward us instead of away from us. Coming home, I think guys were comfortable. Being able to practice and play at our own rinks really give us that confidence back."

Swiss rookie Hiller had 29 saves on the night in earning his sixth NHL victory.

The Ducks don’t play again until Friday against Calgary at Honda Center, the fifth date on their seven-game homestand. With the win, they will also have the next two days off from practice.

'Not often do you get an opportunity at this time of the year to have a couple of days off," Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said. "We put on the board that if we got two points, there would be a day off tomorrow. The wives have a fashion show that they will attend on Tuesday, so we wouldn’t have to come back to practice until Wednesday."

GAME NOTES

Anaheim has been perfect on the penalty kill in the last three games, going 13-for 13.  The club has allowed just one power play goal in the last four games, going 15-for-16 (93.8%) overall.

 

The Ducks extended their winning streak versus Chicago to five games overall and have gone 12-0-1 versus the Blackhawks over the last 13 games (dates back to Nov. 28, 2003).  Anaheim has not lost a game in regulation to Chicago since Nov. 2, 2003.

 

Tonight marked the Ducks’ first six-goal game since Nov. 15, 2007 @ LA.

 

Teemu Selanne’s hat trick marked the 20th of his career.  It is the 25th hat trick in franchise history and Selanne’s 11th with the club. 

 

Selanne’s 3-2=5 points tonight ties his career high, the eighth time he has accomplished the feat (Last: 11/19/06 vs. PHX, 0-5=5).  It also ties the club record for points in a game, the 10th time in franchise history the feat has been accomplished (five times by Selanne).

 

With his three goals tonight, Selanne jumped ahead of Maurice Richard (544) on the all-time NHL goals list to hold sole possession of 25th place.  He now has scored 546 goals in his career.  Selanne also recorded his 600th career NHL assist with his second assist of the game on Chris Kunitz’s goal.

 

Selanne extended his goal streak to three games (5-2=7) and his point streak to four games (5-3=8).  He has also earned 6-3=9 points in the last six games.  His last multi-goal game came in the 2006-07 regular season finale on April 7, 2007 at Columbus (he did not have a multi-goal game in the 2007 playoffs). 

 

Ryan Getzlaf collected 1-2=3 points tonight for his fifth three-point game of the season (last: Jan. 18 @ MIN, 0-3=3).  In addition, Getzlaf has earned points in 11 of the last 12 home contests, earning 5-13=18 points during that span (dates back to Jan. 2 vs. CBJ).  He has earned 2-7=9 points in the last seven games overall.

 

Chris Kunitz earned 1-3=4 points tonight, tying his career high for points in a game (three times, last: 12/6/06 vs. NSH, 1-3=4).  He also tied his career high for assists in a game with three (four times, last: Nov. 15 @ LA, 0-3=3).  Kunitz has also collected 3-6=9 points in the last five games. 

 

Jonas Hiller earned his sixth win of the season, stopping 29-of-32 shots tonight.  In his last four starts, Hiller has stopped 110-of-119 shots for a 2.25 GAA (9 GA/240 MIN) and .924 SV%.

GAME LOG

3rd Period

20:00 - END OF GAME - The Ducks take it to the Hawks and a battered Patrick Lalime, 6-3. Ninth win in 10 games for Anaheim.

16:12 - ANAHEIM GOAL - CHRIS KUNITZ - Selanne feeds Chris Kunitz, who skates toward the slot and fires a wrister that flies over Lalime's shoulder. Lalime looks absolutely terrible on it. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. It's 6-3 Ducks and this bad boy is over.

15:28 - ANAHEIM GOAL - TEEMU SELANNE - Chris Kunitz takes the puck from Francois Beauchemin on the left wing and Kunitz makes a gorgeous pass too Selanne in the slot, as Selanne redirects it just inside the right post. Take that, Patrick Lalime. It's 5-3 Ducks.

15:20 - CHICAGO GOAL - BRENT SEABROOK - Seabrook pushes his way toward the blue line, where he gets off a hard slap shot that sails over Hiller's glove.

Chris Pronger has been announced to have a jaw contusion and won't return.

12:20 - ANA Penalties - Todd Bertuzzi, 2 min. roughing and Corey Perry, 5 min. fighting and CHI Penalties - Patrick Lalime, 4 min. roughing (double minor) and James Wisniewsky, 5 min. fighting. Bertuzzi takes a feed from Getzlaf on the 2 on 1, and instead of taking the shot, elects to make a deke and goes slamming into Lalime, who had reached out to topple him. As the play goes the other way, Lalime punches Bertuzzi in the back of the head for seemingly no reason, and suddenly they're throwing down, as Lalime's mask goes flying off. That leads to an all-out melee in which all 10 skaters get involved. Perry takes several punches from Wisniewsky and gets his head shoved to the ice. This carried over from Lalime's objection to Bertuzzi's screening job last period.

For the second straight game, there is a bird flying through the arena.

7:37 - CHI Penalty - Jason Williams, 2 min. hooking.

6:54 - Rob Niedermayer tries to flick at a loose puck right in front of Lalime and almost gets it through.

6:20 - Hiller makes another nice stop on Toews after the Ducks power play expires.

4:08 - CHI Penalty - Dustin Byfuglien, 2 min. tripping. Byfuglien (whose name is prounounced "Bufflin," by the way) isn't happy.

2:17 - Niedermayer comes back on after the penalty expires and the crowd voices its approval.

1:47 - Hiller makes a fantastic stop on a puck that was deflected off a Brent Seabrook shot. Impressive.

1:20 - Pahlsson jumps back on the ice and immediately makes a mark, clearing the puck out of the slot after a nice Hiller stop.

0:17 - ANA Penalty - Scott Niedermayer, 2 min. roughing. Niedermayer gets Kane in the face at bit trying to push him from entering the zone. Another questionable call. The Ducks face a 5 on 3 for longer than they expected.

0:00 - We're underway in the third, with Chicago still on the 5 on 3.

2nd Period

20:00 - END OF PERIOD - A Kent Huskins goal puts Anaheim up 4-1, but Patrick Sharp comes back with a goal that cuts both into the Ducks lead and Pronger's mouth. He still hasn't returned as we go to the second break.

19:52 - HIller makes a nice stop on a shot from the point and holds it tight to keep Sharp from poking it in.

19:12 - ANA Penalty - Samuel Pahlsson, 2 min. hooking. Talk about turning the tables. The Ducks go from a 5 on 3 power play to a 5 on 3 penalty kill.

18:36 - ANA Penalty - Andrew Ebbett, 2 min. holding. Ebbett gets called for holding James Wisniewsky against the boards, which also looked to be a dreadful call.

17:45 - After a couple of Ducks shots are saved and the puck is cleared, it goes to Lang fresh out of the box. But Lang looks like he's skating through mud in trying to get on the breakaway and Schneider gets back to force him to take a tough-angle shot.

16:12 - CHI Penalty - Patrick Lalime, 2 min. slashing. Schneider drills a slap shot off a Selanne feed that hits the left post and goes in, but it's immediately waved off by the official, who says Bertuzzi interfered with Lalime. The goalie slashes Bertuzzi from behind right after it went through. Replays show the interference was an absolutely awful call. Bertuzzi was close to Lalime, but didn't interfere. He was just screening.

15:39 - CHI Penalty - Dave Bolland, 2 min. tripping. We've got a 5 on 3, which I think has Selanne hat trick written all over it.

15:08 - CHI Penalty - Robert Lang, 2 min. boarding. Lang throw Moen into the wall behind the Chicago net.

13:52 - CHICAGO GOAL - PATRICK SHARP - Right off the draw won by Toews, Sharp takes a wrister that flies past Hiller. It gets worse, as Pronger was hit in the mouth by Sharp's stick blade on the follow through and flails to the ice, appearing to be in serious pain. He goes down and then quickly leaves the ice holding his mouth.

Just found out my uncle just won the Oscar for Visual Effects on "The Golden Compass." Very cool.

9:20 - Perry makes a nice pass to Selanne near the far post and he nearly taps it past Lalime for the hat trick, but Laime does a nice job to get over there.

7:21 - CHI Penalty - Cameron Barker, 2 min. slashing. Perry did a nice job to draw the hook, skating hard into the zone and turning toward the crease.

6:28 - Pahlsson does a nice job to steal the puck in the Chicago zone, then lets fly a shot that Lalime saves. I think it's Lalime. Whoever is in there now saved it.

The Ducks Trivia Challenge asks Bruce from Long Beach which Duck started his career with Chicago. He guesses Travis Moen and he's right, as he and the rest of his section get free chili cheese fries! (Not now, of course.) Bonus question? There isn't one for the second straight game. What happened to the bonus question?

4:27 - The Ducks kill the penalty with help from Scott Niedermayer, who effortlessly reaches out to deflect away a pass on the rush, his heart rate not moving a bit on the play.

3:26 - ANA Penalty - Francois Beauchemin, 2 min. hooking. Second minor of the game on Beauchemin.

2:27 - ANAHEIM GOAL - KENT HUSKINS - Chris Kunitz tries to make a feed across the crease to Ebbett, who is wide open, but it's knocked away before it can get there. The puck bounces to Huskins who pounces on it and bats it in the net. It's 4-1 Anaheim.

By the way, Lalime is back in net for the Hawks. They talked to him in the locker room and told him, "No, you're supposed to STOP pucks. Now get back in there, tiger."

1:30 - Lang takes a shot that Hiller makes a nice glove save on.

0:55 - The puck comes out of the corner and into the painted area, where Toews almost pokes it in.

0:00 - We're off and running in the second.

Pretty entertaining contest at the intermission where they have fans shooting at an empty net for tickets. They had to take it to a second tiebreaker, sending the three contestants back to the red line, where Sandra from Orange connected on the last attempt. In the first tiebreaker, she hit the post from the blue line. Pretty cool. Rob Niedermayer would dominate this contest.

That was followed by the Fantasy Actor Challenge, where they have two contestants try to re-enact a movie scene, and it's "Total Recall" for the second straight game. The first contestant is kind of a doofus wearing a black tank top. He gets booed after his session. The second guy does a bit better job and gets polite applause. He's the winner, but the biggest loser during the whole thing? The fans having to listen to it. When are our entertainment people going to learn not to give a microphone to fans?

1st Period

20:00 - END OF PERIOD - The Ducks completely control the first 18 minutes of the period, getting two Selanne goals and one from Getzlaf. But Chicago crawls back with a Patrick Sharp tally at 18:11. It's 3-1 Anaheim.

18:47 - ANA Penalty - Kent Huskins, 2 min. holding the stick.

18:11 - CHICAGO GOAL - PATRICK SHARP - From the corner, Jason Williams sends a pretty pass to Sharp in the crease and Sharp deflects it just under the crossbar. It almost looks like it hits the post, so Sharp puts it back in, but replays show the original strike hit the net.

17:13 - ANAHEIM GOAL (POWER PLAY) - TEEMU SELANNE - Getzlaf takes a pass from Pronger and skates toward the left faceoff circle. He sends it down to Selanne near the extended goal line and Selanne quickly puts a bad-angle shot on net that slides through Crawford. This thing is a laugher early.

16:18 - CHI Penalty - Martin Havlat, 2 min. hooking. The Ducks are completely dominating this thing.

11:00 - ANA Penalty - Francois Beauchemin, 2 min. high sticking. Beauch gets Patrick Kane in the face and Kane goes down like he was shot.

10:44 - Brian Sutherby and Adam Burish go at it hard near center ice, throwing several quick blows at the top of the fight. The rest of it is a lot of grabbing and holding, while Sutherby gets a couple of shots in. He eventually forces Burish into the Ducks bench (but not quite over the wall) before they both run out of gas. Give this one to Sutherby. They both get 5.

8:38 - ANAHEIM GOAL - RYAN GETZLAF - Getzlaf gets the play started by feeding Perry on the left wing. Perry drops it back to his linemate, who makes a nice move around Jonathan Toews and shoots it underneath Lalime. It's 2-0 Anaheim and Lalime is immediately and ingloriously pulled for backup to the backup Corey Crawford.

7:45 - ANAHEIM GOAL (POWER PLAY) - TEEMU SELANNE - As Ryan Getzlaf and Selanne try to snag the puck in the corner, Getzlaf ends up with it, then makes a quick feed to Selanne at the top of the crease. The Flash quickly deposits it past Lalime on the glove side. It's 1-0 black.

6:36 - CHI Penalty - Dave Bolland, 2 min. hooking. Ducks go on their first power play.

3:35 - Andrew Ebbett makes a great play, falling to the ice, but somehow reaching behind him to block a shot from the point with his stick.

2:20 - Scott Niedermayer makes a nice backhand pass to a charging Sutherby, but it's just out of his reach.

0:55 - Pronger rips a shot from the right wing point that Lalime stops.

0:00 - We're underway at Honda Center.

Pregame

Starting Goaltenders - ANA Jonas Hiller; CHI Patrick Lalime

Starting Skaters - ANA Teemu Selanne, Mathieu Schneider, Chris Kunitz, Kent Huskins, Andrew Ebbett; CHI Rene Bourque, Cameron Barker, Dave Bolland, James Wisniewski, Dustin Byfuglien

Scratches - ANA Brandon Bochenski, Todd Marchant, Joe DiPenta; CHI Brent Sopel, Martin Lapointe

Both backups in goal tonight. Khabibulin is out with back spasms.