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Oilers take advantage of Ducks' special teams in easy win

Dec 3, 2007 - 6:15 AM By Joel Bergman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Edmonton Oilers took advantage of some woeful penalty killing with two power-play goals and backup goaltender Mathieu Garon recorded 25 saves Sunday in a 4-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

The Ducks, whose penalty killing started the night ranked 25th in the NHL, surrendered a power-play goal for the seventh straight contest.

"In the last five or six games, we've been taking way too many penalties," Anaheim center Rob Niedermayer said. "We're just not doing the job on the penalty kill. I think it takes a lot of the flow out of the game for the guys that are not killing penalties. It disrupts our rhythm. That's our strength, the four lines of our team."

Already leading 1-0 in the first period, former Ducks right wing Dustin Penner compounded Anaheim's struggles by netting a power-play goal at 18:25.

Robert Nilsson passed from a sharp angle to the right of Anaheim netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere into traffic in front, where Ducks blue-liner Francois Beauchemin was tangled with Penner.

The puck ricocheted off Beauchemin's stick and then off Penner's face before popping over Giguere's shoulder into the net for a 2-0 lead.

"It was just hard work and determination," Penner said. "No, it hit me in the face. That was the only play I had. It was a great pass by Nilsson."

Oilers coach Craig MacTavish felt that the Ducks' physical play cost them a goal.

"They took three penalties in the first period, and we ended up capitalizing on the last one," the coach said. "It's a double-edged sword when you try and run a team out the building like that."

A chorus of boos accompanied the Ducks off the ice as the period came to a close.

Defenseman Joni Pitkanen increased the lead to 3-0 at 7:15 of the middle session on another power-play goal, the second of the game and 33rd of the season yielded by the Ducks.

Pitkanen rifled a slap shot from 50 feet out on the left point past a screen formed by Penner and Anaheim defenseman Sean O'Donnell.

"He dug in, he battled really hard," MacTavish said of Pitkanen. "I was really happy to see him get a goal. He was putting in a lot of miles out there, a lot of hard, physical miles. It was a big step for him."

The early offensive support was more than enough for Garon, who notched his second shutout of the season and the 12th of his career.

"We really played well tonight," Garon said. "Defensively, we didn't give them too much. I think it was a huge win for us. We scored two goals early, and after that (the Ducks) maybe didn't feel so good. It changed the tempo of the game."

The Oilers won both ends of a home-and-home series which began Friday in Edmonton and have won all three contests between the teams so far this season.

"Obviously, it wasn't the response we wanted," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "We didn't garner any emotional energy whatsoever. It's not like they didn't try. It was like their gas tank was empty - emotionally, mentally and physically. Sometimes, when things go like this, guys try too hard. They try to make that extra play, make that extra deke."

The Ducks squandered a golden opportunity to get back into the game when they failed to score on a 5-on-3 advantage for 40 seconds late in the second period.

Anaheim's power-play unit - ranked 27th entering Sunday's game - failed to score in four man-advantage opportunities in the contest.

At the other end, Ducks goaltender Giguere stopped 17 of the 21 shots he faced. Asked whether he expected to be pulled after the fourth goal, Giguere said he wanted to stay in the game.

"I'm a proud guy," Giguere said. "I'm not a quitter. I can understand why Randy would do it."

Anaheim was shut out for the fourth time in 14 games at the Honda Center.

"At the end of the day, we have to realize that it's a game and we need to have fun. We're just not having fun right now," Giguere said.