Most important game of the year.  Must win.  The Ducks will be repeating these phrases for the rest of the season.

In the first of a three-game road trip, the Ducks did win their most important game yet of the year with a 4-3 overtime victory against the Dallas Stars.  It was Anaheim's third overtime victory in a row, making the rest of the Western Conference fret over all the three point games going on.

It didn't have to be pretty.  It didn't have to be perfect.  It did have to be a win.

"You have to win, whatever you do, you got to find a way and our guys continue to reach back," said coach Randy Carlyle.

Lubomir Visnovsky continued his scoring ways against Dallas, putting the Ducks on the board with a power play goal at :56 of the second period.   The Stars evened things up with a power play goal of their own at 9:57 from Alex Goligoski. 

Then Loui Eriksson, who scores against Anaheim as frequently as Visnovsky scores against Dallas, gave the Stars the lead at 4:29 of the third period. 

The Ducks immediately answered back on the next shift with a matching goal just :11 seconds later.  Corey Perry got his 40th of the year thanks to a beautiful pass from Bobby Ryan.  Perry is only the third Duck to score 40 goals in a season.  Fellow teammate, Teemu Selanne, and former Duck, Paul Kariya, are the other two players to accomplish that feat for Anaheim.

For a game that was pretty even most of the night, the ice tilted towards Dallas when Trevor Daley scored at 13:21.  That gave the Stars the lead once more and with playoff positioning on the line, they were not about to give it up. 

Cue ancient wonder of the hockey world with the ability to put a puck in the net like no one else playing the game today. 

With Ray Emery pulled for an extra attacker, Selanne tied up the game with a mere 6.4 seconds remaining on the clock.  Selanne nearly skipped like a schoolboy on ice, a celebration he barely missed earlier in the game when the puck just barely avoided the net. 

Stunned Stars fans saw the game go into overtime instead of taking two points in the standings free and clear.  There was still hope for the extra point and the ability to bounce over the Ducks in the standings, but anyone who has followed Anaheim lately knew better. 

Overtime is magic time for the Ducks and they have been able to pull out all the stops and make it happen in the extra time period.  No trees for Choc Hospital for a shootout win.  The Ducks want regulation or overtime to avoid tiebreaker heartbreak.

Once again Ryan made it happen with a well placed pass to Cam Fowler.  At 1:42 Fowler made sure that all the Dallas fans, who had been standing the whole time, had nothing to cheer about.  The Ducks sure did, though. 

"It shows the resiliency of our team and how there's no quit no matter what the circumstances are," Fowler said. "You can always rely on some of the veterans to step up when the game is on the line. Teemu did that for us tonight. Bobby gave me a great pass in overtime. I didn't really have much work left to do."

They now take that momentum to Nashville tomorrow night to take on another team that is only one point away in the standings. There will be plenty of work to do.  It will be the most important game of the year.  They must win.

In other notes:  Jonas Hiller not only went on the road trip, but also was activated off IR and sat on the bench in back up of Emery.  When he will see action next is unknown, but clearly he is ready when the opportunity arises.  Considering the fact that some doubted his ability to return this season from the awful vertigo that plagued him, this is nothing short of miraculous.

Apparently the Ducks have been doing well enough lately for the rest of the NHL to sit up and take notice.

Last week it was Corey Perry's turn for recognition when he earned the third star of the week honors.  Perry continues to have a career year and now has 39 goals this season, second only behind Steven Stamkos.  If he continues to put the puck into the net in the final 10 games of the season, Perry could make a serious bid for the Maurice Richard trophy at the end of the year.   He only needs one more goal to become just the third 40+ goal scorer in club history, joining Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya.

This week, goaltender Ray Emery was voted the second star of the week.  Emery was 2-0-0 last week in his first two starts since coming back from serious hip surgery last April.  In those two games he has posted a 0.99 goals against average and .968 save percentage.  Emery had not played in an NHL game since Feb. 1, 2010 as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. 

After Jonas Hiller began his struggles with vertigo and dizziness, the Ducks signed Emery to a two-way contract on February 7 and he spent some time in Syracuse before being called up.  Emery has helped to re-solidify the Ducks goaltending, as has Dan Ellis, who was acquired before the trade deadline.

Speaking of Hiller, he continues to improve, but slowly.  He has been practicing with the Ducks, but there is no immediate timetable for his return.  With the two E's holding down the fort (or more specifically, the net) there is no rush for Hiller to return. 

In other news, the Ducks also signed Rick Schofield to a one-year entry level contract.  Schofield has been playing for the Lake Superior Lakers of the CCHA.   The 23 year old center has a collegiate-high 17 goals and 35 points in 39 games. 

If nothing else, the final 10 games of the season will be good preparation for the playoffs that, God willing, the Ducks will be in this year.   For better or for worse, with errors or with extra spark, the Ducks are learning, sometimes the hard way, what it will take to get to the post season.

A 5-4 overtime victory of the Calgary Flames was two points the Ducks had to have.  They could have had them without giving an extra point to Calgary, but again, that is part of the learning curve.  And something the team will need to correct before April rolls around.

The Ducks scored three goals on their first five shots, chasing Miikka Kiprusoff out of the net.  Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Francois Beauchemin had the game at 3-0 by 5:49 of the first period.  Great start.  Bad follow up.

Calgary proceeded to scoe the next four goals while Anaheim remained stalled.  Tom Kostopoulos scored two, Rene Bourque added another, and Jarome Iginla gave the Flames the lead on the power play at 7:10 of the third period. 

Never fear when you have a late power play and some 40 year old dude is on your team.  Teemu Selanne added yet another power play goal to his totals (tying him with Dino Ciccarelli for 8th all time in power play goals).  The goal tied up the game at 17:59 and the Honda Center fans went insane. 

Dan Ellis made 37 saves to help the Ducks get their two points. 

The most important part was overtime.  When shootout wins are disregarded when it comes to tie breakers, you want to finish it off while the clock is still ticking. 

Bobby Ryan had another penalty shot chance in overtime, his second this season.  He could not convert, but Perry got his second of the game on the next shift, deflecting a wickedly hard shot by Toni Lydman. 

Game over and the Ducks moved back into 8th place (for at least 24 hours) and could breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'd like to see that we don't put ourselves in that situation that many times," Selanne observed after the game. "After all, it doesn't really matter how you're going to win the game. You need those two points. Every point is so critical right now."

Nonetheless, the Ducks will fare much better if they do not put themselves in a situation of having to come back. 

The next three are on the road with Dallas, Nashville and Chicago.  They are tied in points with Dallas, and one away from both Nashville and Chicago. 

Same advice as before - MUST WIN!  There are no other options.  Not in this playoff race where a mere five points separates fourth and tenth place.  If you have any fingernails left by the end of the season, consider yourself fortunate. 

Then again, as Selanne said, "it's exciting." 

Enough excitement already.   Just win. 

The Ducks must feel like they are on a treadmill lately.  They are not making any progress, so it seems, in the Western Conference standings, but have to keep winning just to stay in the same place.  On the other hand, staying place is better than falling off and landing flat on your face. 

Anaheim stayed with the rest of the pack after a 2-1 overtime defeat of the Los Angeles Kings, handing them their second loss in a row in their own building after having gone 4-0 on the road.   

The Kings loss was the Ducks gain, and they desperately needed the two points after teams ahead of them got points of their own earlier in the day. 

Ray Emery got his second start in a row after performing admirably in the 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.  Emery has played just two games plus one period in relief of Dan Ellis and has a .972 save percentage and 0.86 goals against average.  Not bad for a guy who was not sure he would ever play in the NHL ever again. 

Emery made 31 saves on the evening and kept the Ducks in the game. 

Brandon McMillan got his 10th goal of the year at 15:24 of the first period.  McMillan took advantage of a loose puck and put it behind Jonathan Quick. 

Quick, who was nearly as perfect as Emery at the other end, did not appear to be in a giving mood and the Ducks were challenged to get anything more by him.

For a while, it appeared as if the Ducks would be ok with just one goal in the playoff like game.  The Kings had other ideas. 

Los Angeles appeared to tie things up in the second period, but it was deemed that Alex Ponikarovsky interfered with Emery and a goal was waived off.  In the third period, the Kings had one that could not be disputed.

After the Kings sixth power play had expired, Dustin Brown was waiting at the side of the net.  Michal Handzus made the perfect pass to Brown, who put the puck in behind Emery.  Emery had no chance on the shot and the game was tied. 

Already exhibiting plenty of energy, the Kings tried to finish off Anaheim before regulation ended, but Emery would have none of that.

Going into the extra period, the Ducks took advantage of their opportunities.  Anze Kopitar fell to the ice at one end and the Ducks had numbers going the other direction.  Corey Perry made a great shot and even though Quick got a tiny piece of the puck, it made a beeline into the back of the net at 1:32.

Game over.  Dejected Kings.  Dejected Kings fans.  Defeating their rivals at Staples Center?  Priceless.

The Ducks get no time to revel in the win as they get right back to it at Honda Center on Sunday evening.  Their opponent?  The Calgary Flames, with whom they are tied in points in the standings.   A win would bump them up a couple notches.  A loss?  With both Chicago and Nashville playing on Sunday as well, one does not want to think about the potential ramifications of a loss to the Flames.    Falling off the treadmill and hitting the ground hard does come to mind.

But for now the Ducks are hanging in there. 

They meet the Kings twice more to finish the season in back to back meetings.  If you don't think those games will be huge, you are deluding yourself.    If they can duplicate the results from this evening, however, they will be ok.

Each game for the Ducks feels like a must-win, game seven, do or die situation.  The playoff race in the Western Conference has never been so congested and so close.  A mere eight points separates third place from tenth place and it has been that way for weeks.

A 2-1 victory over the Blues vaulted Anaheim into the eighth spot (for now).  One down.  12 more to go.

The previous match ups between the two teams have been filled with fights and offense and lopsided results, the most recent a 9-3 drubbing of the Ducks at the hands of the Blues in February.   Naturally, this one was a close one goal affair without a single fight. 

Ray Emery, who relieved Dan Ellis in the Ducks' previous game on Sunday, continued where he left off and got his first start in over a year.  He made 30 saves and got his first win, extra sweet considering his long road of recovery and rehabilitation from serious hip surgery last April. 

The only shot Emery could not stop was from Nathan Oystrick, who got his first goal of the year as an emergency call up from the AHL.  His power play goal at 9:54 of the second period was heavily screened and Oystrick got a fortuitous bounce when his rebound came directly back to him.  The second shot made it in the net.

The lead did not last long.  Anaheim finally got on the board with a lucky bounce from Jason Blake at 11:28.  Blake was aiming his shot toward the front of the net and it went in off the skate of Roman Polak and behind Jaroslav Halak.  Not the prettiest of his 200+ goals, but it counted nonetheless. 

The second of Blake's goals came at 1:50 of the third period, tipping in Lubomir Visnovsky's shot from the point.  That was the game winner, but in a tight game, you knew it was going to go down to the wire. 

"It’s definitely a good feeling," said Blake, who missed four games with a hand laceration. "Every game right now for us is a playoff mentality and you have to be ready to play. I thought Ray played unbelievable tonight and made some great, key saves. It’s been a long time coming for him. He did a great job."

Despite pulling Halak for the extra attacker, the Blues could not get anything more past Emery or the Ducks defense, who did a good job at remaining calm and preventing any good scoring chances. 

"We are in the playoffs right now," said coach Randy Carlyle. "Our message is now we have to earn the right to stay in. We found a way to win the hockey game tonight."

They will need to find a way to win in Los Angeles on Saturday as well, when they meet the Kings at Staples Center.  For now, all five Pacific Division teams are in a playoff position.  The Ducks and Kings have never been in the playoffs in the same year, but this could be the year that changes.  It isn't just two points on the line, it's four points.

"We’ll enjoy this one," commented Blake, "but it’s obviously a huge game on Saturday against the Kings. We have to make sure that we do the same things that we did tonight, but even better."

Missed chances and opportunities were the story of the 5-2 defeat of the Ducks by the Phoenix Coyotes.  An inability to put the puck in the net, despite juicy opportunities to do so, cost the Ducks two critical points in the standings and an even juicier opportunity to move into 8th place in the standings. 

Instead, the Ducks are reassessing what went wrong and contemplating it from 10th place in the Western Conference.

Former Duck, Ilya Bryzagalov, can be credited for a lot of what went right for the Coyotes.  Bryzgalov, who was given away for free to Anaheim's Pacific Division rivals, has enjoyed defeating his former team over the past few years.  Bryzgalov was given away in favor of Jonas Hiller.  Bryzgalov was a Vezina trophy candidate last season.  Hiller has been out for the past six weeks with vertigo.

"You have to tip your hat to Bryz," said Todd Marchant. "He really kept them in there and made some big stops. It could have been a much different game if we had gotten some by him early."

The Ducks did get one by him early in the first period, with the first of two goals by Corey Perry.  The problem was that everything was getting by Dan Ellis at the other end. 

Taylor Pyatt tied up the game less than two minutes later and Lauri Korpikoski gave the Coyotes the lead at 17:33. 

The Ducks had plenty of chances in the second period, but between Bryzgalov and his teammates, there were no lucky bounces for Anaheim.

Perry tied up the game again with a power play goal at 15:46 with a nice redirect of Cam Fowler's shot.  It didn't last long.

Korpikoski got his second of the game a minute later and then with Marchant in the penalty box, David Schlemko made it 4-2 at 19:17.  Schlemko's shot not only went through traffic, but right through Ellis' legs. 

"It just seemed like pucks found ways to get through him," said coach Randy Carlyle.

Which is why Ray Emery took over in the third period of the game.  It was Emery's first appearance in an NHL game since February 1, 2010. 

"I’ve been waiting to get in the net," Emery said. "I didn’t want it to be under that circumstance. It got my feet. I tried to give the boys a chance to stick around in the game."

Emery looked thrilled to be in net, despite the score, probably because it was unclear if he would ever play in the NHL ever again after major hip surgery.    Emery at least gave the Ducks a chance, stopping 9 shots, but the Ducks did not give themselves a chance.

An empty net goal from Shane Doan with less than a minute left in the game was the final nail in the coffin and the Ducks left the ice with a sick feeling in their gut.

"These points are too important," Marchant said. "It was a four-point game tonight. We certainly know what is at stake. Having faced it last year, not playing in April and May, we don’t want to get there again. It has to start here on Wednesday."

The question remains if the Ducks can still determine their own fate.   Chances like this one against a division foe can't be given up so lightly.  The Ducks need to fight a lot harder. 

New battle on Wednesday against St. Louis.  Same needed result - must win.

In other notes:  Jason Blake returned to the line up after missing several games with a hand laceration. 

The Ducks had no choice but to get a win in Colorado if they wanted to remain in the playoff race.  The Western Conference refuses to unclump itself, so the only thing you can do is keep winning games to keep pace.   A 6-2 victory over Colorado moved the Ducks up one single solitary notch in the standings, but they could bump right back down depending on the results of Saturday's games. 

"We can't afford to miss points when everybody else is winning around us," said coach Randy Carlyle. "That's the situation we're in. We can't afford to give up points at this point of the season."

Nothing is going to be easy for Anaheim in the remaining 14 games.  Nothing.

Colorado has not done much in the winning department lately, now losing seven straight, but that makes them all the more dangerous.   They were exceptionally dangerous in the first period.

The Ducks were only behind 1-0 after the first period, but they could have been down by at least two more goals. 

Francois Beauchemin swiped away a puck from the crease midway through the first, coming to Dan Ellis' rescue.  Ryan O'Reilly finally got a puck through at 19:16, taking advantage of a turnover off a Ducks' skate.  He nearly added a second goal :14 seconds later on a mishandled puck by Ellis. 

Knowing they needed to change things, the Ducks came out strong in the second period. 

"We came out in the second and played our style game," said Corey Perry, who had the game winning goal. 

It was Saku Koivu who got the scoring started for Anaheim :34 seconds into the middle frame.  A power play goal from Ryan Getzlaf at 3:26 gave the Ducks their first lead. 

While 4 on 4, David Jones tied up the game again at 4:52, but Perry returned the lead to Anaheim just :28 seconds later.

The Ducks started to pull away thanks to a great play by Brandon McMillan.  McMillan and Dan Sexton had a 2 on 1 and McMillan patiently timed his pass right through Milan Hejduk's legs, placing it perfectly for Sexton to tap in behind Brian Elliott.

Bobby Ryan deflected another one of Lubomir Visnovsky's shots that seem to have a heat seeking missile trained for the net at 10:00 exactly in the third period.  That gave the Ducks a bit of a cushion and Ducks fans got free wings from Hooters for the second game in a row. 

The icing on the cake was a goal from Brad Winchester at 12:13, his first in a Ducks uniform.  The Ducks did not face much opposition after that and hung on to win the game.

"These are all must-wins for us," Getzlaf stated.

With eight of the final 14 games against Pacific Division opponents, must win is an understatement.  Cannot afford to lose a single point would be a better description.  

Phoenix is the next team up on Sunday, and even though the clocks change on Sunday morning, the Ducks better be awake from the very first shift of the game.   You might be able to get away with taking an opponent lightly against a team that is struggling for any victories, but you cannot do that against a team that has a playoff berth. 

Every game from here on out is a playoff game seven situation.  If nothing else, it will be good preparation for the team if they do manage to sneak into a final playoff spot, but there is still a long, long way to go until April.

The Ducks ended their seven game homestand on a positive note with a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers, their final Eastern Conference opponent this season.   The win let them creep up one notch in the Western Conference standings, but they still remain two points out of a playoff spot, the same as it was before they played the Rangers.   Welcome to the playoff treadmill. 

Anaheim started slowly and the opposing team scored first yet again.  Brandon Dubinsky got his 20th of the year by finishing off a 3 on 2 rush with the puck going over Dan Ellis' shoulder and into the net at 3:30 in the first period.

The Rangers were coming off a dominating 7-0 defeat of Philadelphia and looked like they could be headed to further offensive glory against the Ducks.   The Ducks put a kibosh on those ideas.

"Even though we gave up the first goal it didn’t deter our attitude towards the hockey game," said coach Randy Carlyle. "We went out and did what we had to do to get the job done. Our players were rewarded for their hard work."

Teemu Selanne had cautioned that before the game that the best way to get pucks past Henrik Lundqvist was not to let him see them.  Apparently his teammates listened.

The Ducks, who woke up quickly after Dubinsky scored, tied up the game with Corey Perry's goal at 7:34 that ping ponged off Dan Girardi's foot and into the net behind Lundqvist. 

Lubomir Visnovsky, who leads all NHL defensemen in scoring, gave the Ducks their first lead at 9:19 on a shot that was screened by plenty of traffic and deflected off another Rangers defenseman.   For good measure, he added another goal at 19:19 that had a little assistance going in, this time off a Rangers stick.   

Anaheim couldn't buy a bounce in the last game against Vancouver.  This time, they seemed to be paid back in full. 

Things remained the same until the third period.  Ellis made a spectacular save on Dubinsky and the top line for the Ducks headed the other way, with Bobby Ryan popping the puck behind Lundqvist.  After a brief review of the highlight reel save by Ellis, who got the puck with the shaft of his stick, the game was 4-1 instead of 3-2 at 2:19.

"The other guy was streaking down also and so I just tried to throw anything back there at that point," said Ellis of the most important of his 30 saves on the night. "When you have the whole net open, you try to get anything you can. Fortunately it hit me."

It was the turning point in the game. 

Despite a power play goal from Marian Gaborik at 5:31, the Rangers never got closer than that.  Perry's second of the evening at 14:36 gave fans free wings at Hooters and sealed the deal for Anaheim.

"The puck just seemed to work for all three of us tonight," Ryan said of himself, Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. "We were able to hold onto it. Perry behind the net wore down defensemen by making them turn different ways. We were good on the forecheck. It was a nice night all around for the three of us."

Lundqvist could not disagree.

"I think their first line absolutely dominated our team tonight," said the goalie, who matched his season-high by allowing all five goals. "They made it tough for us. We gave away the puck all night, and they're sharp -- that first line is very skilled."

The Ducks now have 15 games remaining in the regular season, nine of them coming against Pacific Division rivals. 

"A lot of four-point games coming up and that's certainly not lost in this room," commented Ryan. "The guys are well aware of that. There's going to be a lot of jockeying for position here down the stretch. I think the team's excited for it."

The Ducks can ill afford to sleep through any of them, but if they can play to the level they did against New York, they will give themselves a chance to win.  

In other notes:  Defenseman Luca Sbisa played in his 100th NHL game and did so with the knowledge that he is signed for the next four years with Anaheim.  He was awarded a four year, $8.7 million contract extension on Tuesday that is win-win for both Sbisa and Anaheim. 

Saku Koivu returned to line up after missing several games with a groin injury, but Jason Blake remained out with a hand laceration.  20 stitches were removed earlier on Wednesday, but Blake was still not deemed ready to return.  He is a possibility for Friday against Colorado.

There is a reason why the Vancouver Canucks are the best team in the NHL right now.  If they continue to play the way they played in Anaheim on Sunday evening, the Canucks might be holding something big, shiny and silver come June. 

While the Canucks played like a team securely headed for the playoffs in the 3-0 shutout, the Ducks showed why they are on the outside of the bubble looking in.

Not only did the Ducks allow a goal on the first shift of the game, just :42 seconds in, they decided to repeat the blunder to start the second period as well.  Manny Malhotra got his second of the game just :17 seconds into the second period and it definitely deflated Anaheim's hopes of rebounding.

"Any time you get scored on at the start of both periods, it’s not a good sign," said Ryan Getzlaf, who as captain drew the short straw to talk to the media after the game. "It put us behind the eight ball. We had opportunities to get back into this hockey game. We hit a few posts and a crossbar. That is the way things go some nights. We can’t get too high or too low. We have to get going here for the next one."

The only thing that seemed to be going were the Canucks and their fans.  Of the announced 16,356, it seemed like more than half of the crowd was wearing a Vancouver jersey.  Busses of Canadians made the trek to California to catch back-to-back games against the Kings and the Ducks and none of them went home disappointed. 

By the time the score was 3-0, thanks to a power play goal from Daniel Sedin at 6:06 of the third period, most of the Anaheim faithful tucked their tails between their legs and beat the traffic.  Who could blame them?  There were probably a few of the Ducks themselves that would not have minded an early exit to avoid further embarassment.

Whether it was an inability to get set up on the power play, defensive breakdowns, a lack of cohesiveness, or an ability to execute anything, the Ducks were guilty as charged on all counts. 

"We just didn't play well enough to win tonight," said coach Randy Carlyle. "I can't put any more of an explanation to it than that."

None needed.

Dan Ellis only had J P Levasseur as a back up after Ray Emery was sent down to Syracuse to get some more playing time.  He certainly did not have a lot of work, facing only 16 shots total. 

On the other end, Cory Schneider got his first career shut out by stopping 26 shots.  The posts and crossbars stopped at least three others for him. 

"I was most happy that I got the win," commented Schneider. "(Roberto) Luongo and I have been joking that we've lost four or five shutouts in the last few minutes. The guys buckled down at the end. It's a good feeling to finally get this out of the way, but the team is more important. I've never really been a shutout guy. Hopefully there are many more to come."

They won't come at Anaheim's expense as this was the fourth and final meeting of the regular season.  If the Ducks manage to pull it together to squeeze in for a final playoff berth, they could easily meet in the playoffs, however. 

Right now, the post season seems tenuous, despite being only a point away from the final spot.  Like Cinderella's stepsisters trying to squeeze into a too tight glass slipper, there are 11 teams trying to fit into 8 spots.  Someone isn't going to get in, no matter how hard they try or how close they come.

One thing is clear - they have to play better than this in order to move forward.  Vancouver understands what is needed.  Will the Ducks figure it out in time?

In the words of the perpetually young Teemu Selanne, you never know what's going to happen with the Ducks.

Anaheim continued to switch things up with a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars with just 3.8 seconds remaining.  Lubomir Visnovsky had the game winning goal, as well as his second career hat trick, to help the Ducks come back from a 3-1 deficit. 

The Ducks began the evening one point behind their division rivals and in 11th place in the Western Conference.  These two points, as with all the others, were critical.

Visnovsky got his first goal of the game at 9:22 of the first period when Dan Sexton helped to screen Kari Lehtonen.  Taking the 1-0 lead into the second period, the Ducks fell flat.

Dallas scored the next three goals to take a commanding lead.  Jamie Benn, who is having a breakout season, scored his 15th of the year 15 2:23 with a nice redirect from Alex Goligoski.

Adam Burish, wearing a full cage to protect a broken orbital bone, gave the Stars their first lead at 10:35.  Loui Eriksson added a power play goal at 18:37 and Dallas appeared to have all the momentum heading into the final period.

Then again, you never know what's going to happen with the Ducks.

Visnovsky added a power play goal at 5:24, ripping his shot over Lehtonen's shoulder.  Time started to wind down, but the Ducks had a little more in the tank.

Selanne got his 400th goal in an Anaheim uniform with 1:03 left in the game.  Visnovsky?  Had a crucial assist on the play to give him his first four point game.

The Stars, who thought they were going to pull away with two points, were not happy to take the game to overtime.  Dan Ellis preserved the second point for the Ducks with a spectacular save, batting away the puck on a 2 on 1 breakaway that seemed to seal the deal for Dallas.  Of all his 23 saves, that one was clearly the biggest of the evening.

Instead of going to the locker room to celebrate, Tom Wandell took a hooking penalty with less than a minute remaining in the extra period.  The Ducks took advantage of the opportunity. 

Ryan Getzlaf won the face off and got the puck back to Visnovsky, who hammered it home.  Game over.  Hats came pouring down for the first ever hat trick by an Anaheim defenseman, while his teammates poured over the boards to congratulate the beaming Slovakian.

"Wow, it’s awesome," said a bright-eyed Visnovsky. "It was a lucky night for me. I’m so happy to score three goals tonight."

Both Visnovsky and Selanne agreed that overtime victories in the past two games will be a big confidence boost for the team. 

"You have to believe," Selanne said, "and get the feeling as a team that you’re going to come back. It doesn’t matter what the score is. That is what happened tonight."

It was the second game in a row that the Ducks came back from a deficit to eventually win the game.  How can that not boost confidence?

"Every point is important to our team," said Visnovsky, who is keenly aware of the clogged playoff race in the Western Conference. 

Only four points separate 4th to 11th place in the standings.  The teams are ping-ponging over one another nightly and look to continue to do so until the very last game is played in the regular season.

Until then, the Ducks have to continue to battle, and the battle continues against Vancouver on Sunday.  The Canucks just happen to hold the best record in the NHL this season.   Then again, it's the Ducks, and you never know what will happen.

In other notes:   Saku Koivu remains out with a groin strain, but Jason Blake also joined him on the sidelines with a hand laceration.   No news on when either player will be available once again.