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Ducks thump Coyotes

Jan 19, 2012 - 6:44 AM Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) - Francois Beauchemin led a balanced Anaheim attack with a pair of goals and an assist as the Ducks came away with an emphatic 6-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes at Honda Center on Wednesday.

Jason Blake had a goal and an assist, while Niklas Hagman, Corey Perry and Matt Beleskey all scored, and Lubomir Visnovsky, Andrew Cogliano and Nick Bonino all contributed a pair of assists for the Ducks, who have won three straight and six of their last seven games. Jonas Hiller made 25 saves in the victory.

Kyle Chipchura and Daymond Langkow found the back of the net for the Coyotes, who have lost four of their last five contests. Mike Smith was touched for all six goals on 21 shots in defeat.

Phoenix opened the scoring at 8:33 of the first period after Raffi Torres corralled a loose puck in the left circle and fired a quick wrister that was stopped by Hiller, but he left a huge rebound and Chipchura pounced on it and ripped it home from the right circle to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.

Anaheim, though, responded with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart to take a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.

Hagman deflected home the tying goal for the Ducks at 13:49 of the first period off a point shot from Visnovsky, then, Beauchemin fired a slap shot from the right circle past Smith on the power play at 15:43 of the first period.

"Our third line has been very productive, and that's been vital to us," Beauchemin said. "It's our defense, though, that has been playing very well. It all starts in the defensive zone. We create offense off our defense."

The Coyotes tied it at two at 9:32 of the second period when Ray Whitney picked up a loose disc in the neutral zone and raced up the right wing. Whitney gained the blue line, moved to right circle and found a trailing Langkow, who easily fired it past Hiller.

But, again the Ducks responded with two goals to lead 4-2 heading into the third stanza.

Beauchemin bagged his second goal of the night at 14:51 of the second period when he chipped home a nice centering pass from Cogliano, and Blake stuffed one past Smith to finish off a 3-on-2 odd-man rush with style at 18:54 of the second stanza.

Anaheim added two more goals in the third period to finish off the Coyotes.

Beleskey made it 5-2 at 3:09 of the third period after he accepted a pass in the slot from George Parros and ripped it into the top right corner, then, Perry capped with scoring with a shorthanded breakaway tally when he chased down a loose puck and went in alone before firing the puck over the left shoulder of Smith.

"There were good things for us tonight, but you wouldn't know it by the final score," Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett said. "We made mistakes and gave them open shots. Their fourth goal was the big one and that broke it open."

Game Notes

Wednesday marked the fourth meeting of the season between these Pacific Division rivals. The Ducks hold a 3-1 series edge this season and lead the all-time series between the teams, 55-30-14...It was Chipchura's first goal in 75 games dating back to last season...Phoenix finished 0-for-4 with the man- advantage, while Anaheim scored on its only power play chance.