For the Ducks, any win means two points.  A win against the Detroit Red Wings is two points and extra satisfaction. 

The Ducks were supremely satisfied with their 2-1 overtime win that came on a successful penalty shot by Bobby Ryan.   Red Wings fans in attendance were much less pleased.

Detroit had all the opportunities they could fathom to make the game against Anaheim resemble the 7-4 drubbing against the Kings on Monday.  Handed nine power plays, and a long 5 on 3 chance, Detroit only capitalized on one advantage.

Pavel Datsyuk broke the scoreless tie at 5:10 of the second period.   The rest of the way, the penalty killers for the Ducks were exceptional.

The nearly two minute 5 on 3 in the first period yielded zero shots on goal for Detroit and gave the Ducks the encouragement they needed to persevere.

The Ducks had chances of their own, but Jimmy Howard was strong in net. 

Jason Blake finally put a puck past Howard at 1:54 of the third period and the Ducks took things to overtime.  Barely.  The inability to count led to the ninth penalty of the evening with too many men on the ice with just :12.6 seconds remaining.

Thank goodness for Dan Ellis, who stopped 28 shots on goal and seems to have finally figured out how the ice and boards work in Anaheim.  To say that Ellis has stepped up would be an understatement.  Used to a back up role while in Tampa Bay, Ellis is now getting back into the groove of playing every night. 

"He stole a game for us," was Ryan's assessment of the new netminder.

The Ducks managed to kill their final penalty and midway through the overtime session Ruslan Salei pulled down Ryan on a terrific scoring chance.  The refs awarded a penalty shot and Bobby made it look easy.  

"That shot seemed to work for me in the last couple of shoot outs," Ryan said.  "(Howard) is a different kind of goalie. He challenges and he gets those legs back. He goes off to the side pretty well. There wasn’t any other game plan if that didn’t work out, he was making the save. I just tried to close my eyes and put it in the right place."

It was in the right place.  The net.  Game over, two points and in the words of Ryan, who now has 30 goals, "a lot of Red Wings fans leaving unhappy."

The Ducks have not won a single game when trailing at the end of the second period.  So not only did the Ducks get a win, they defeated some pretty steep odds against a tough opponent.

"Every win right now is key going into the final stretch," Ellis said. "Especially with a team like Detroit. With the firepower they have and with the record they have on the road.  I don’t think they have lost in the past six games on the road.  We had to find our best game and I think we did tonight. We played a very solid 60-plus minutes and I think it showed by getting the win."

The Ducks, who started to take baby steps forward in their last game against Colorado, took a huge step forward with the victory over Detroit.  The home stand continues against Dallas, Vancouver, and the New York Rangers and the Ducks need every single point they can muster. 

Sitting in 9th place in the Western Conference, they are only one point behind both Los Angeles and Dallas.  Stringing together a few more wins might go a long way to making it into the top eight.  Staying there is another matter.

In other news:  Saku Koivu missed his fourth game with a groin strain, although he is skating again.  Corey Perry left practice early on Tuesday with a "lower body" injury, but was good enough to go in tonight's affair.  Jonas Hiller is still on the vertigo merry-go-round and waiting to get off.  Positional vertigo has been ruled out and the cause is still undetermined. 

The Anaheim Ducks have been active all month making trades way before the deadline.  While it might have seemed that they were done by now, GM Bob Murray still had a couple of tweaks to make to the roster before time was up.

First off, Maxim Lapierre and MacGregor Sharp were traded to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Joel Perrault and a third round pick in 2012.   Lapierre had only been with the Ducks for two months and had only three assists in 21 games with the club.  Sharp has been with Syracuse of the AHL for most of the season, minus eight games up in Anaheim. 

Joel Perrault was the Ducks fifth round draft pick in 2001, but was sent to Phoenix in exchange for defenseman Sean O'Donnell in 2006.   Perrault has spent the majority of his time in the AHL, but has seen 96 NHL games, including 7 this season with the Canucks.   Perrault will remain with the Manitoba Moose at this time rather than be sent to Syracuse. 

"He’s good depth for us," commented Murray.  "He was drafted by Anaheim years ago and we know him. He’s really good depth for us."

The Ducks also acquired Brad Winchester from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a third round draft pick in 2012.  The 30 year old winger is not diminutive in size - he is 6'5" and 230 pounds.   In essence, he will replace Lapierre on the 3rd/4th line.

"We’ve been experimenting with a bunch of different things on the bottom six," Murray said.  "Max is a right-handed shot. Maybe if we could move Max, and maybe use that asset to get a bigger left-handed shot, a physical guy, that was what we were trying to do. We were trying to get a little more size. Some of the teams in our conference are big teams and we just felt we had to add some size.  Brad plays both ends of the ice and he plays hard. We tried to get him last year in free agency and he wanted to go back to St. Louis. I told him today, 'Now we got ya.'"

Murray's other moves this move include acquiring goaltender Dan Ellis, defenseman Francois Beauchemin and winger Jarkko Ruutu as well as trading away Paul Mara.

A five game losing streak seems like an eternity, especially at this time of year.  For now, the streak is over and Ducks finally have a much needed win.  However, even though the 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche was as huge a sigh of relief for Anaheim, they are still treading water in the standings, remaining in 11th place.

The first period saw three fights early on and then Kevin Porter tapped in the puck behind Dan Ellis at 12:07.   Ellis is still getting used to the ice and boards at the Honda Center and that worked to the Avs advantage.

The Ducks came out much better in the second period and Ryan Getzlaf tied up the game at 1:43.  Three consecutive power plays yielded nothing for Anaheim, who has been struggling with the extra man of late.

Then the most unlikely candidate on the Ducks scored.  OK, second most after the goaltender.  Todd Marchant got his first goal of the year, and the first one since March 17, 2010, a mere 71 games before.  The celebration at 17:51 was deservedly huge for the workhorse veteran.

"Jarkko Ruutu made a great play on the wall and got it to me,"said Marchant. "Believe it or not, it’s something just about every team practices every day – get it wide and go to the net on a middle lane drive.  (Luca) Sbisa made a great play to put it back on my stick. All I did was just redirect it."

The Ducks took the 2-1 lead into the third period, but Dave Jones tied up the game once more at 1:43.

Finally the Ducks were able to capitalize on a power play.  With Brandon Yip in the box for a high sticking double minor, Brandon McMillan finished off Bobby Ryan's rebound at 11:23.  Colorado's penalty killers were exhausted and Peter Budaj had no chance.  McMillan continues to be a breath of fresh air for the Ducks with 9 goals and 17 points. 

Instead of putting away the Avs, the Ducks thought they would continue to play it close and with less than 1 second remaining in the game, Milan Hejduk rang a shot off the crossbar, the post and back out again.  It did not cross the line, but did require a review to make sure there was no overtime. 

"The last shot I didn’t see at all," Ellis admitted. "I was down trying to cover everything low and on that post. All of a sudden the puck came out of nowhere and hit me on the side of the head. I heard it hit a post. I was just praying that it hit the right post. Thank God it stayed out."

By staying out, Ellis earned his first win as a Duck and more importantly the Ducks earned two points. 

"You have to find ways to get points at this time of the year," said coach Randy Carlyle. "Hopefully this is a springboard for our hockey club to get back to playing the way we are quite capable of playing."

The Ducks dive into historically tough competition on Wednesday when the Detroit Red Wings come to town.  How they fare against the Wings will say a lot about their post season chances.

In other notes:  The Ducks made a minor league trade with the Boston Bruins on Sunday evening, trading away Stefan Chaput and David Laliberte in exchange for Sean Zimmerman and Brian McGrattan.  Saku Koivu missed his third game with a groin strain.

After losing four in a row, the Ducks desperately needed a win against the Minnesota Wild.  They only got one point in the 3-2 overtime loss and now have five losses in a row. 

Sure, a point is progress, but not enough to make a dent in an already congested Western Conference.  The loss leaves the Ducks in 11th place while everyone else keeps creeping upward.   20 games to go and Anaheim will continue to be on the outside looking in if they cannot manage to put together a winning streak.  Now.

Dan Ellis did well in his debut in a Ducks uniform, stopping 28 shots.  The problem was that Jose Theodore stopped even more on the other end.  Theodore did what a back up goaltender needs to do - play well and get a win while the primary guy sits on the bench.  Theodore stopped 46 shots and seemed to be positioned well for everything the Ducks sent his way.

"You have to give a lot of credit to Theodore over there," said Corey Perry after the game. "He played well and made some big saves. He saw a lot of rubber tonight. It's a matter of finding those bounces again that we were getting early on when we were winning."

The Ducks had several good opportunities, including a wide open net that Perry himself missed by shooting the puck over the top of the net.  None of them went Anaheim's way. 

John Madden got the first goal of the game at 15:29 of the first period.  His shot sailed over Ellis' left shoulder and landed cleanily in the net. 

Bobby Ryan put the Ducks even at 9:22 of the second period with his 100th NHL goal.  The power play had just expired when Ryan finished off the rebound behind Theodore.   By the end of the period, the Ducks had only one goal to show for their 20 shots in that period alone and 30 thus far in the game. 

Things appeared destined for overtime in the third period until Clayton Stoner broke the tie at 15:03.  At that point, numerous fans left the building to brave the rainy ride home, not believing that their team could come back.

Miraculously, they did.  Francois Beauchemin made it 2-2 with exactly 2 minutes remaining on the clock and suddenly there was a chance for the Ducks. 

The Ducks had several good chances in overtime, but two breakaways by Minnesota at the end put the final nail in the coffin for Anaheim.  First it was Cal Clutterbuck going in on Ellis, who made a great save.  Then it was Pierre-Marc Bouchard. 

Ellis could not stop Bouchard and with 6.3 seconds left in OT, the Wild took their extra point and went home. 

"I don't think you ever design to give up two breakaways in 4-on-4 play," said coach Randy Carlyle. "We got too loose and too aggressive on the offensive side of it. We got caught. You can't do that. (Ellis) made a big stop on the first one. The puck bobbled over Cam Fowler's stick and they got in behind us. That's a new one for us."

If the Ducks continue like this, missing the playoffs will not be a new experience.  It will be a repeat of last year.   Sometimes you do not want to have a deja vu experience.   This would be one of them.

In other notes:  Saku Koivu missed his second game with a groin strain and his brother Mikko did not play for the Wild either, having suffered a broken finger last week against the Ducks.   GM Bob Murray got a four year extension from management earlier on Friday, meaning that the Ducks will be staying status quo for a while. 

After three lousy performances and allowing nearly as many goals as an All Star game, the Ducks rebounded with a much better effort against the Kings on Wednesday night.  The result was still a 3-2 loss for Anaheim, their fourth in a row, but there were signs that things were improving.

Curtis McElhinney got the nod in net, despite less than stellar efforts.  Ray Emery was brought up from Syracuse to back McElhinney up, as Timo Pielmeier was not up to snuff.  

McElhinney only saw 18 shots and did a much better job, but did not control a couple of rebounds and get the results that the Ducks wanted.  So much so that Thursday morning McElhinney was shipped off to another sunny state - Florida.  The Ducks traded him for Dan Ellis, who should be able to hold the fort a bit better while Jonas Hiller remains out with vertigo.   If Hiller's head wasn't spinning already, all the changes in net would do that for you.

The Ducks started off the game well and were very disciplined in not giving the Kings a single power play.  The Kings did not register a single shot on goal until the 11:00 minutes into the game.   However, Los Angeles still scored first at 12:13 of the first period.  Ryan Smyth put Jack Johnson's rebound into the net and the Ducks had to play catch up.

Teemu Selanne got goal #20 of the season at 13:32 to tie things up.  Toni Lydman made a terrific shot that Selanne tipped in behind Jonathan Quick. 

Anze Kopitar's sharp angle shot at 17:09 gave the Kings the lead once more.  It was the second rebound for LA that found itself perfectly placed.

In continued back and forth fashion, Corey Perry tied the game again in the second period when he tipped in Luca Sbisa's shot at 10:05. 

Willie Mitchell got the eventual game winner with a rare goal in the third period.  It was only his second goal of the season at 6:45.  With traffic in front, McElhinney did not even see the shot.

The Ducks were unable to tie up the game, and the Kings went on to complete a terrific road trip at 6-1-3 and move up to 6th place in the Western Conference. 

"It's been a great road trip,"said Kings coach Terry Murray. "That's 15 points out of a possible 20. That's a nice road trip."

The Ducks, who have not gotten a single point in four games, are now languishing at 11th place.  They were tied for first in the Pacific Division just a week ago, and now find themselves at the bottom of that division.

"It's a four-point game," Bobby Ryan aptly observed. "Obviously you look at the standings. Other teams around us are finding ways to get points every night. We've lost four in a row and we find ourselves on the outside looking in." 

The Ducks will continue to be on the outside if they stay on this losing streak.  Regaining Ryan Getzlaf, who missed the game due to the birth of his son earlier in the day, and Saku Koivu, who is day to day with a strained groin muscle, will certainly help when the Wild come to town on Friday.   Continuing their better efforts and work habits will also assist in getting the Ducks much needed points.

Reports from Anaheim are that goaltender Jonas Hiller has a balance disorder.  Hiller is not the only one that is out of kilter for the Ducks.  The whole team is out of whack and needs a realignment.

With three losses in a row, the latest at 9-3 fiasco in St. Louis, the Ducks are seriously jeopardizing their post-season chances.  Giving up a total of 21 goals in that three game span points to serious defensive issues, and it isn't all netminding.

Neither Curtis McElhinney, who gave up four goals and was booted in the first period, nor Timo Pielmeier, who gave up five goals in his NHL debut, are totally at fault.  Even if Hiller were well and playing, the other defensive lapses and general meltdowns would still be causing the Ducks woe.

Anaheim started with the lead, and once again, could not keep it.  Jarkko Ruutu, who made his Ducks debut after being acquired from Ottawa on Thursday, got the first goal at 2:20 of the first period.  Teemu Selanne scored #625 of his career at 6:41 to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead.

It went downhill from there.  Rapidly.

Andy McDonald and TJ Oshie scored :07 seconds apart and Carlo Colaiacovo gave the Blues their first lead four minutes later on the power play.

Ryan Getzlaf tied things up at 16:42, but that was as close as they could get.  It chased Ty Conklin out of the net for St. Louis, as he had let in three goals on five shots.  The back up's back up, Ben Bishop, was solid the rest of the way.

McDonald got the game winning go ahead goal at 18:24 and that was it for McElhinney.  Pielmeier then got a chance to show his stuff and got shellacked in the process.

In the second period David Backes and Oshie extended the lead to 6-3. 

The Ducks felt they had a little hope when Cam Fowler thought he scored.  The refs disagreed and called a goaltender interference penalty on Corey Perry instead.  Selanne uncharacteristically argued the call and was handed not only an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but also got a 10 minute misconduct. 

If that is not proof that the world has been turned upside down for Anaheim, I don't know what is.

The Blues got not one, but two power play goals from Chris Stewart, who was newly traded from Colorado, and instead of the game being 6-4 it was 8-3.  Porky Pig could not have said it better - "that's all folks!"

The final indignity came in the third period with the Ducks yielding another short handed goal, this time to Alexander Steen at 7:21 that came on a, surprise, surprise, turnover. 

To say things have gone to Hell in a handbasket would be an understatement. 

The Ducks now get to come home and contemplate their stupidity, failings and navels for the next three days.  Then they get to meet the Kings, who right now are salivating at the opportunity to trounce their Pacific Division and freeway rivals.

If the Ducks don't get their act together, Wednesday's game will be looked back upon as the turning point and the difference in their season.  Must win is the only option for the Ducks.

Must play well is the first mandate towards that goal.

With a 5-1 loss to Minnesota on Friday, the Ducks are starting to look a little lame.  Their efforts on Wednesday, albeit losing ones, made for a wild game against the Capitals, but at least it was even for the majority of the game.  The game against the Wild just looked bad.

It started off well, with Corey Perry scoring the first goal at 3:30.  Perry's 30th of the year turned out to be the only Ducks goal of the game.  Niklas Backstom stopped everything else.

The same could not be said for Curtis McElhinney, who continues to get the nod in goal because Jonas Hiller is on IR with dizziness and Timo Pielmeier, who is sitting on the bench as back up, has not played a single minute in the NHL.   McElhinney, as on Wednesday, was not at fault for all the goals that went in the net. 

"There need to be some saves made at critical points in the game, and they aren't happening right now," said McElhinney. "I need to find a way to get it done."

The Ducks affinity for turnovers (great from the bakery, crappy on the ice), did not help their cause one iota. 

Mikko Koivu had tied up the game at 5:01 before blocking a shot with his hand and heading to the locker room.  Koivu did not return to the ice for the rest of the game, but his teammates handled everything just fine. 

"To lose a guy like we did during the game, everyone's got to step up a little bit and we did," said Kyle Brodziak, who had a goal and two assists.  "He's a huge player on our team and it's a big void when he's not in there."

Anaheim had their second power play opportunity with Matt Cullen in the box before Brent Burns joined him with a double minor for high sticking.   There was only :03 seconds of 5 on 3 time, but as soon as Cullen was out of the box the Ducks turned the puck over to Brodziak.  Brodziak sent it down the ice to Cullen, who was a Duck for the first 427 games of his career.  The crowd just knew Cullen was going to put the puck in the net and erupted when he fulfilled that hope at 15:07. 

Short handed goal.  2-1 Minnesota.  Game over. 

Sure, they played the rest of the time, but for the Ducks, that was it.   In the second period Eric Nystrom and Brodziak scored :27 seconds apart and completely blew the game out of the water.  Martin Havlat's goal late in the third just added one more exclamation point to Minnesota's efforts.

The Ducks can ill afford to lose two games in a row at this point in the season. With a Western Conference race tighter than skinny jeans on an elephant, every point matters. 

The Ducks are now clinging to 8th place in the conference and have no squish room whatsoever.  There are four teams below them within four points of them in the standings.  St. Louis, whom the Ducks play on Saturday, are just seven points behind. 

Anaheim must redeem itself on Saturday and then turn around and make the most of the next 10 games, nine of which are at home.  Regardless of who is in goal, the Ducks need to score and not commit sloppy plays that bite them in the butt.  If they can clean things up, they might give themselves a better chance.  Otherwise, playoffs can be turned over to more deserving teams.

Four wins on the road for the Ducks could not be followed up with a win at home against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.  Eight of their past ten games have been on the road, and the Ducks have performed admirably by winning seven of them. 

Those two games at home, where they have been strong all season?  Both of them have been losses, including a wild offense laden game between Anaheim and the Capitals.   Goaltending was not the highlight in the 7-6 loss for either team.

Semyon Varlamov let in three goals and only got one period to play for the Capitals before being benched in favor of Michal Neuvirth.  Neuvirth did not fare any better, also letting in three goals.

On the Anaheim side, Curtis McElhinney got the start with Jonas Hiller out again on IR with dizziness symptoms.  McElhinney, who has been terrific of late, let in seven goals, not all of which were his fault.  Barring injury, you knew that McElhinney was going to have to gut it out for the whole game.  Nothing against Timo Pielmeier, but in a game like that one, it would not matter who was in net.

"It was frustrating and a difficult night," McElhinney said. "The offense put up six goals and we end up giving up seven. A better performance was needed from me tonight and it wasn't there. It's disheartening to let the boys down like that."

The game went back and forth and back forth, not being decided until there was less than two minutes to go.  Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and three assists, as did linemate Corey Perry.  One of Perry's goals was shorthanded (his third of the year) and he is sixth in points in the NHL.

Teemu Selanne made an inexplicable error by turning over the puck to Brooks Laich in the first period.  Laich was right in front of McElhinney who had no chance on the point blank shot.   Selanne redeemed himself a couple minutes later with his 18th goal of the year.  He is now one goal away from tying Joe Sakic on the all time goals list at 625. 

Alex Ovechkin scored while falling to the ice and his teammate, Alexander Semin had a hat trick.  The third goal at 18:13 of the third period was the game winner as well. 

Toni Lydman, Lubomir Visnovsky and Bobby Ryan also scored for the Ducks.  For Visnovsky, it was his 400th career point.

Dave Steckel and Mike Knuble did the rest of the damage for the Capitals. 

Although they have been without Hiller for all but one game since the All Star break, it was clear the Ducks were concerned for the teammate's health.  Although not an excuse, the Ducks were not 100% focused.

"I'm terribly disappointed in our hockey team tonight," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle commented. "It seemed like we lost all of our focus on the things that we've done in the previous three weeks or a month. It was one of those games where we didn't do enough things right, other than score six goals. When you score six goals, you should win a hockey game. That is for sure."

Six should be enough.  Early on it looked like someone was going to hit 10. 

So the points were not there for the Ducks, who now find themselves in a five way tie in the Western Conference standings with 68 points.  It could not be more bottle-necked if you tried.   The Pacific Division is the tightest one right now, with only two points, a single game, separating first and fifth place.

The good news is that the Ducks head back out on the road for two more games before settling in for some home cooking.  They will need to go back to their strong home play once they return because there is zero room for error if they want a playoff spot.

In other notes:  After the game it was announced that defenseman Paul Mara had been traded to the Montreal Canadiens for a 2012 draft pick.  Mara was one of nine defensemen and had been a healthy scratch for most of the past two months.   Mara played for the Canadiens last year and was brought in to the Ducks after Lydman suffered double vision prior to training camp.  The Ducks are still d-man heavy, but this is a start.

The Ducks have bigger problems than they thought.  Jonas Hiller, who missed a week after the All-Star break with fatigue and lightheadedness, is still not well.  He came off of IR and played against Edmonton on Sunday, getting the win.

However, Hiller has had a return of the symptoms that have plagued him since early February.  They were reported after practice on Tuesday.  As a precautionary measure, the Ducks have immediately placed him back on IR, which means he will miss the next week at a minimum and will not be going with the Ducks on their upcoming road trip. 

Hiller will continue to be evaluated by doctors and medical personnel, who will try to determine exactly what is ailing the goaltender.

“He’s just saying he’s got that lightheadedness,” coach Randy Carlyle commented. ”He’s got to go through I would say a number of tests to cross off the list of things that quite possibility could be affecting this, from heart monitoring to equilibrium to chiropractic … that battery of tests to find out why he’s feeling the way he is.”

In the meantime, Curtis McElhinney will be reinserted in net with Timo Pielmeier called up once again from the ECHL to back him up.

McElhinney has performed admirably in Hiller's absence and he will have to be sharp this evening when the Ducks take on Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

There is no doubt that Hiller's teammates will be thinking about him.

 

“It’s a major concern,” said Toni Lydman after the morning skate. ”We don’t know what’s going on. You’re always worried. He’s a big part of this team. A big part of why we’re in the race and doing so well right now. It’d be nice to have some kind of answers.”

Lydman had his own unanswered questions earlier in the year when he experienced a severe bout of double vision that kept him out of training camp and the first few weeks of the season. 

Hopefully Hiller will not be out as long and they will determine the cause shortly.

In other notes:   The Toronto Maple Leafs picked up Aaron Voros in exchange for a 2011 draft pick.  Voros had been sent to Syracuse on February 9 after clearning waivers in order to make room on the roster for Ryan Getzlaf, who was returning from injury.

The Ducks got their sixth road win in a row and finished off a four game road trip perfectly with a 4-0 shut out over the Edmonton Oilers. 

The Oilers were playing the second of home back-to-back games, and were not their sharpest in either contest.   The Ducks took advantage, scoring just :34 seconds into the game with Teemu Selanne's 623rd career goal.  It turned out to be the game winner, which gives Selanne 100 of those, only the sixth player in NHL history to do so. 

Jonas Hiller took the net for the first time since February 2.  After a disastrous start to that game, he went on IR with fatigue and lightheadedness.   He backed up Curtis McElhinney on Friday night in Calgary and was deemed ready to go on Sunday. 

Hiller picked up his fifth shut out of the year, but he only had to make 12 stops to do so.  Certainly not his usual 30+ shots against, but definitely a kinder, gentler way to reintroduce to game play.

"It wasn't as easy as it looked," Hiller said. "Not getting any shots is never easy. After a couple of weeks now of not having played in a real game, it probably makes it even more difficult."

The game broke open in the second period, with Brandon McMillan and Bobby Ryan scoring 1:14 seconds apart late in the period.  McMillan now has a four game scoring streak and goals in his last three games.   McMillan admitted that good chemistry is developing between he and linemates Dan Sexton and Maxim Lapierre, and it certainly is showing on the scoresheet.

Ryan added a second goal at 1:31 of the third period that chased Devan Dubnyk out of goal.  It was not Dubnyk's fault at all, considering that he was left high and dry by teammates.  Nikolai Khabibulin came in and stopped everything else, but the Oilers failed to even get any decent chances.  They did not even have a shot on goal in the third period until more than 12:00 in.

"We're just playing with a lot of confidence as a team right now," said Selanne. "It takes everybody. It doesn't matter if you play two minutes or you play 30 minutes."

The Ducks get to take their winning streak back home for single game before adding more miles to their travel logs. 

The Ducks also get to head home fourth place in the conference standings and tied with Dallas for the Pacific Division lead.  Dallas has one game in hand, but Anaheim is making a clear run for the division. 

There is a long way to go, but having a strong road presence in addition to dominating on home ice will help the Ducks attain their goal of the post-season once more.