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By Adam Brady (abrady@anaheimducks.com)
AnaheimDucks.com

ANAHEIM – For the second time in the last five nights, a Ducks team desperately needing a victory got little resistance from the cellar-dwelling Colorado Avalanche.

It wasn’t as clear cut as Wednesday’s 7-2 victory in Colorado, but Anaheim left little doubt in the third period in a 4-1 victory over the visiting Avs. It was the sixth win in the last seven games for the Ducks, who avoided falling back in the tight Western Conference playoff race. It was the seventh straight defeat for Colorado.

Bobby Ryan had two goals, including the eventual game-winner, as the Ducks took down the Avs to remain in the Western Conference playoff hunt.

Bobby Ryan had two goals, including one early in the third period that gave the Ducks a comforting two-goal lead in helping the Ducks dispatch an Avs team that remains last in the Western Conference. It was a game the Ducks badly needed, as they had fallen from seventh in the conference to 10th by virtue of a loss last Friday night to Edmonton and some timely wins from their closest competitors. Seventh-place Nashville and eighth-place St. Louis were both victorious Sunday before the Ducks and Avs dropped the puck, so Anaheim needed to two points to keep from losing more ground.

"Everybody in the room realized we dropped one that we felt like we should have had there on Friday night against Edmonton and lost two valuable points," Ryan said. "We knew that coming in tonight we had to get a good start, put some points up on the board and come away with two points before we go on the road for a tough couple of games."

Ryan helped make that happen with his goal 4:05 into the third period, as he wristed a shot from the right wing circle through the legs of a Colorado defenseman and underneath goalie Peter Budaj. Ryan had put the Ducks in front for good with a pretty backhand goal on the power play that gave Anaheim a 2-1 cushion. Ryan took in a perfect feed from the point by Ryan Whitney, and moving to his left, backhanded it top shelf for the only goal of the period.

After Ryan’s big goal in the third, Drew Miller added to the Anaheim lead a little less than two minutes later. In a scramble in front of the Colorado net, Andrew Ebbett managed to kick a loose puck to Miller, who dispatched it into the open net.

The Ducks scored the first goal of a relatively dreary first period, as Corey Perry came through with his sixth goal in the last seven games (including two last time against Colorado) at 12:50. T.J. Galiardi lost the puck near center ice, and it ended up on the stick of Perry, who was still hanging out in the attacking zone. He headed toward the right wing circle, where he hammered a slap shot into the top corner of the net.

Jonas Hiller was very strong in net, with several acrobatic stops among his 26 saves on the night.

Colorado found the equalizer on the power play with 3:21 left in the period, with Chris Pronger in the box for hooking. After a lengthy battle in the corner, T.J. Hensick found the puck and fed John-Michael Liles, who got lost among the Anaheim defense as he charged into the slot. Liles one-timed it off Hiller and it trickled over the goal line.

That was the only damage to Hiller on the night, as he was outstanding in net with 26 saves, including a few acrobatic ones. He also took a big chance midway through the second by coming way out of his crease to dive and knock away a bouncing puck, which ended up on the stick of T.J. Galiardi. But the Ducks were able to block his shot while Hiller scrambled to get back in net, and he made another big stop a split seconds later.

"I think you have to talk about the team performance, about those two points, that is all that counts," Hiller said. "Every single guy in here has his work to do. I’m sure I had a couple of good saves tonight. But in the end, it’s the two points that count right now. They were important. We know that and we’re happy that we won that game."

And one of the first Ducks off the bench to congratulate Hiller after the final horn with a head bump was Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who struggled in net during a 5-3 Ducks loss to Edmonton on Friday night.

The Ducks face those same Oilers again Tuesday night in another huge game for both teams. Anaheim then heads to Vancouver on Thursday before playing San Jose in a weekend home-and-home that promises to be crucial.

"I think that probably the way it’s going to be the rest of the way, out right to the bitter end, we’re going to be fluctuating with the other teams pretty easily," Ryan said. "We know every two points is incredibly valuable, especially when you look around and other teams are winning as well. It’s important for us to control our own fate here and put another run together like we did last week."

GAME NOTES

The Ducks have won six of their last seven games (6-1-0) and seven of the last nine (7-2-0). At home, the Ducks have won three of their last four (3-1-0).

 

The Ducks have scored at least one power play goal in four of the last five games, going eight-for-25 (32.0%) during that stretch.

 

Over the last five games, Anaheim has scored 22 goals, averaging 4.4 per game.

 

With two goals tonight, Bobby Ryan recorded his third multi-goal game of the season. He now sits three goals behind the club record for regular season goals by a rookie (Penner, 29).

 

In his last seven appearances (5-1-0), Jonas Hiller has stopped 185-of-196 shots for a .944 SV% and 1.64 GAA (11 GA/403 MIN).

 

With an assist tonight, Ryan Getzlaf has moved to within one point of matching a career high for points in a season (82, 2007-08).

 

Corey Perry has recorded 4-2=6 points in the last three games.

 

Drew Miller has four goals (4-2=6) in his last eight games with the Ducks.

 

James Wisniewski has four assists (0-4=4) in his last three games.

 

Tonight’s attendance was 17,182, a sellout.

GAME LOG

3rd Period

20:00 - END OF PERIOD - The Ducks get the right opponent for a much-needed victory, taking down the Avs again, 4-1.

19:28 - COL Penalty - Bench minor, 2 min. too many men on the ice. Good God, can we finish this thing?

18:28 - ANA Penalty - Andrew Ebbett 2 min. holding. The official claims Ebbett took down Hannan. I think not.

18:00 - Ryan is out there on the first unit looking for the hattie.

17:51 - COL Penalty - Cody McLeod, 2 min. hooking. That's all the Avs need right now.

17:21 - There's 2:39 left for the Ducks to clean this one up.

16:38 - Fairly hum-drum last few minutes until Hiller makes another slick stop.

11:14 - Hiller sprawls out to snag a redirected shot with the glove, then sits there for a few seconds taking a couple of deep breaths. He definitely has a flair for the dramatic, but when you make stops like that, who cares.

10:18 - Hiller makes a lunging glove save of a Hejduk shot from the wing.

9:20 - The Ducks continue to battle.

5:52 - ANAHEIM GOAL - DREW MILLER - Andrew Ebbett bats at the puck in front of the Avs net and kicks it with the back of his skate to Miller on the doorstep, and Miller sweeps it into the open right half of the net. Two huge quick goals from Anaheim and they've taken control of this one.

4:05 - ANAHEIM GOAL - BOBBY RYAN - Ryan, who did a few things with flair on this shift, gets the puck in the right wing circle and wrists it through the legs of an Avs defenseman and through Budaj's five hole. It's the second of the game for the kid and it's 3-1 Ducks.

0:00 - Off and running in a mammothly important third period for Anaheim.

2nd Period

20:00 - END OF PERIOD - In a period that goes by very fast, Ryan scores the only goal to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.

19:45 - Just to give you an idea of how much Getzlaf and Perry have played together over the years, Getzlaf skates into the Colorado zone and drops a no-look pass behind himself, right on Perry's tape. But the ensuing shot is blocked.

Small chants of "Hiller! Hiller!"

17:50 - Hiller makes a huge kick save as Hensick tries to chip in a rebound.

16:32 - ANA Penalty - Scott Niedermayer, 2 min. interference. And it inevitably comes after the Avs hold the puck in the Anaheim end for seemingly 15 minutes. The Ducks are gassed.

14:35 - Selanne picks up a loose biscuit and backhands it quickly on net off the post.

12:48 - Getzlaf with a nice feed to Ryan, whose one-timer from the slot is stopped. Budaj, I can't believe I'm saying this, is actually playing well tonight.

Dance Cam unfortunately uses the song "Hollaback Girl" tonight. Not one of my favorites.

10:45 - As the puck is bouncing into the Anaheim zone in front of McLeod, Hiller rolls the dice and comes way out of the net to dive and knock it away. Unfortunately, the puck comes to T. J. Galiardi, with Hiller on his stomach at the blue line. Galiardi takes a quick shot toward the empty net and it's blocked by Chris Pronger. Hiller gets back in front just in time to stop another shot on net. Ridiculous sequence of events.

6:05 - Nokelainen digs the puck out of the corner and feeds Rob Niedermayer, who misses the net with his one-timer from the slot.

5:05 - The Ducks look like they're getting another on a 2-on-1 with Getzlaf and Perry, but after Getzlaf feeds Perry, Scott Hannan does a nice job to poke away the puck just before the shot.

4:14 - ANAHEIM GOAL (POWER PLAY) - BOBBY RYAN - From just inside the blue line, Whitney gives a perfect feed to Ryan sprinting into the slot. Ryan moves the puck to his backhand as he's moving right-to-left and sends it top shelf. It's 2-1 Anaheim as Ryan gets his 25th of the year.

4:03 - Christensen redirects a Wisniewski shot from the point and it rings the plumbing.

3:15 - Scotty Niedermayer has an open net for a one-timer in the crease, but it goes under his stick.

2:25 - Selanne nearly pops in a backhand on the rebound, but it goes off the inside of the post and skitters across the crease.

2:19 - COL Penalty - Scott Hannan, 2 min. tripping.

2:05 - Brookbank shoots it over the cage from the point, but it bounces off the wall right in front of the net and nearly bounces in.

1:34 - Marek Svatos sprints down the wing and gets ahead of everyone but a late-reacting Scott Niedermayer, but the backhand is stopped by the Swissie.

0:00 - Here we go in the second. Ducks need to pour it on here.

1st Period

20:00 - END OF PERIOD - Not the best first period in Ducks franchise history, but they come out of it tied 1-1 after a Perry goal and a Liles equalizer.

Kind of a lackadaisical period, and the crowd energy kind of reflects it.

16:40 - Right off the draw, Mike Brown and Ian Laperriere throw off the gloves and go at it. Lots of clutching and grabbing before Laperriere throws Brown to the sheet.

16:39 - COLORADO GOAL (POWER PLAY) - JOHN-MICHAEL LILES - Scott Niedermayer and Todd Marchant battle with a couple of Avs (including Ryan Smythe) in the corner for the puck and it comes out to T.J. Hensick. Meanwhile, the Ducks have completely lost sight of Liles, who charges into the slot and one-times a feed from Hensick that hits Hiller and trickles over the line. We're tied 1-1.

15:36 - ANA Penalty - Chris Pronger, 2 min. hooking.

12:50 - ANAHEIM GOAL - COREY PERRY - In the neutral zone, the Avs turn it over right to Perry, who was hanging out in the attacking end. Perry heads down right wing and has Getzlaf to his left, but he elects to hammer a slap shot into the top far corner of the net. It's 1-0 Anaheim, the sixth in seven games for Perry.

11:30 - Rob Niedermayer makes a nice backhand feed to a streaking Marchant, and his one-timer is just kick-saved at the last minute. I don't know, I liked the Budaj of last Wednesday better.

9:43 - Hiller makes a big stop on a Cody McLeod one-timer. Just what the Ducks need and didn't get last game.

7:45 - Perry tries a wraparound and has an open net, but Scott Hannan reaches out his stick to deflect it away.

4:48 - COL Penalty - Milan Hejduk, 2 min. interferecne. Hejduk tangles with Andrew Ebbett in the Anaheim end.

3:20 - Robbie Niedermayer gets pasted into the wall by Mike Vernace and pushes Vernace down in retaliation. No penalty.

2:08 - The Ducks nearly get an early one on Budaj as Perry almost pokes in a bouncing puck in the crease.

0:00 - And we're underway at Honda Center in a huge one for the Ducks.

Pregame

Starting Goaltenders - ANA Jonas Hiller; COL Peter Budaj

Starting Skaters - ANA Ryan Whitney, Chris Pronger, Teemu Selanne, Drew Miller, Andrew Ebbett; COL Brett Clark, Scott Hannan, Cody McCormick, Ian Leperriere, Ben Guite

Scratches - ANA Bret Hedican, Ryan Carter; COL Lawrence Nycholat, Wojtek Wolski, Brian Willsie, Paul Stastny, Daniel Tjarnqvist, Adam Foote