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McDonald's heroics give Ducks third straight win

Apr 1, 2007 - 5:27 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Andy McDonald and the Anaheim Ducks continue to make a push for the Presidents' Trophy.

McDonald scored two goals, including the winner 25 seconds into overtime, as the Ducks continued their quest for the league's best record with a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Defenseman Scott Niedermayer had a goal and an assist for Anaheim (47-20-12), which has won three in a row and pulled even in points with idle Detroit (47-19-12) atop the Western Conference. The Ducks, who also climbed within one of the Buffalo Sabres (50-21-7) for first overall in the NHL, remained four points ahead of the second-place Dallas Stars (48-24-6) in the Pacific Division.

"It's very important to get the division title," Anaheim goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. "It's so tight in the Western Conference. We want to finish in at least the top three teams. This is our goal."

Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle admitted his team cannot lose focus down the stretch.

"Everybody looked at the schedule and said that we had the most difficult one, and you'd have to agree," Carlyle said. "We still have three games left. It puts pressure on the teams that are trying to catch us. They have to win their games.

"What we have to do is prepare ourselves for San Jose on Wednesday, and that preparation starts now. We wouldn't be feeling very good if we didn't get that extra point tonight. With maybe not our better efforts, we found a way to get the points."

Anaheim also improved its franchise-best road mark to 21-14-4 thanks to McDonald, who took a cross-ice pass from Niedermayer and flicked the puck over the left shoulder of netminder Jason Bacashihua to complete his sixth two-goal effort of the season and clinch the Ducks' fourth win in five games.

"Scotty made a nice play, first of all, to keep it in the zone," McDonald said. "He made a terrific pass. He just kind of floated it into a spot, and I just redirected into the net.

"I yelled at him that we had odd-man rush, a 3-on-2. Of course, he has made plays like that all year. He shows tremendous patience, and it doesn't matter if it's overtime or regulation, he makes those plays under pressure, and he put it right on my tape."

Giguere expected nothing less of the Ducks' captain.

"It was unbelievable," Giguere said. "Only a guy like Scotty can do those kind of plays. McDonald went to the net and knew that Scott could make that pass. And sure thing, he was there when the puck got there."

McDonald also tallied midway through the second period to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead. But Lee Stempniak tied it less than seven minutes into the third with his 25th of the campaign.

Giguere made 20 saves and picked up an assist for Anaheim, which improved to 31-1-4 when leading after two periods.

The Ducks also finished their road trip at 3-1-0 and raised their record to 12-3-2 in their last 17 contests.

Rookie David Backes also scored and Bacashihua stopped 24 shots for the Blues, who have lost three of four. But despite its poor play, St. Louis had its chances in this one.

"I thought that there was a lot of energy in the building," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "We talk about, at the end of the night, not having any regrets, and as a team, with how hard you play.

"It would have been nice to see a couple of those chances go in at the end of the third period, though. We were pushing it. We were going for the win."