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Ducks' Selanne scores in return from hand injury

Jan 10, 2010 - 4:47 AM NASHVILLE, Tenn.(AP) -- After five weeks off, Teemu Selanne made an instant impact in his first game back from injury.

Selanne scored after missing 17 because of a broken hand, and the Anaheim Ducks held on for a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.

Anaheim, which led 3-0, received a 25-save performance from Jonas Hiller. Matt Beleskey, and Ryan Getzlaf added goals for the Ducks.

"It's important that we found a way to win, especially on the road," Hiller said. "We shouldn't have let them come back in the third, but we knew they wanted to do something."

Patric Hornqvist and Martin Erat scored for Nashville.

"We were watching more than we were playing in the first two periods," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "Anaheim played with patience, they didn't give us much, and they capitalized on the chances they had."

Selanne gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 12:10 of the first period.

From behind the Nashville net, Brett Festerling sent a pass to the low slot to Petteri Nokelainen. His shot hit off of the shaft of Selanne's stick and got past the glove of goalie Pekka Rinne.

"(Nokelainen)'s shot, I had nothing to do with it," Selanne said. "It was total luck when it hit my shaft and went in. It was a good way to start my comeback."

Beleskey doubled the Ducks lead at 5:17 of the second.

Corey Perry sent a pass from the right circle to Getzlaf in the left circle, where he slid a backhand pass to Beleskey alone in the low slot. Beleskey easily beat Rinne high to the glove side.

Beleskey has goals in his last three games.

"When you get to play with Getzlaf and Perry, you should be able to find the back of the net a few times," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said.

Getzlaf gave the Ducks a 3-0 advantage at 11:26 of the second when his wrist shot from above the left circle through traffic got by Rinne on the short side.

"We showed up in the third period, but we pretty much gave away two points," Rinne said. "We can't start like this every single game."

Hornqvist's power-play goal 45 seconds into the third period was his third man-advantage tally in three games. He has 11 goals in his last 13 games.

Erat's goal with 3 minutes left cut the deficit to 3-2.

"We didn't want to give up the power-play goal and the goal late to give them the opportunity to get points, but we found a way to get it done," Carlyle said. "We'll take the two points and move on."

NOTES: Just as they did a week ago, the Ducks will follow a Saturday night game in Nashville with a Sunday night game at Chicago. ... Selanne has 20 goals and 24 assists in 37 career games against Nashville. ... Predators captain Jason Arnott missed the game because of an upper body injury. ... Nashville has allowed the first goal in its last six games, going 4-2 in that stretch.