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Four second-period goals propels Ducks past Predators

Jan 8, 2008 - 6:43 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Anaheim Ducks scored in flurries Monday night to continue their dominance of the Nashville Predators at the Honda Center.

Travis Moen and Chris Kunitz sparked a four-goal second period as the Ducks snapped the Predators' three-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 20 saves for Anaheim, which won its seventh consecutive home game over Nashville, a streak that dates back to March 23, 2004.

"We want to be hard to play against on home ice," said Ducks left wing Corey Perry, who had a goal and an assist. "It's our advantage being at home. It doesn't matter who's in here, we just have to keep pushing and playing the same style as we do."

Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle didn't put much into the streak.

"We're fortunate enough that we've been able to have some success against one team," Carlyle said. "We'd like to be 7-0 against every team."

Facing a 1-0 deficit entering the middle session, the Ducks wasted little time taking the lead less than two minutes into the period.

Moen notched his second goal of the season off a rebound just 42 ticks into the second to tie the game and Kunitz gave Anaheim a 2-1 edge just 69 seconds later after picking up a loose puck in the crease.

Moen's goal, his first since the second game of the season on September 30, came after defenseman Sean O'Donnell took a slap shot that was tipped into Predators goaltender Dan Ellis' pads by Ryan Carter.

"It had been awhile, so it was nice to finally get one," Moen said of his goal. "It's a big relief to finally get one. I definitely took a second look. I wasn't quite sure if it had went in or not. Carter just made a great shot on net and I happened to be in the right spot and the rebound popped out to me and I just shoveled it in."

Kunitz's tally was set up by blue-liner Mathieu Schneider's slap shot from the right point that Ellis knocked down with his glove before Kunitz knocked it in.

Later in the period, the Ducks got a pair of power-play goals just 70 seconds apart to take a 4-1 advantage at 8:49.

Skating with a two-man advantage, captain Chris Pronger scored on a slap shot from the left point at 7:39. Perry followed that by netting a cross-crease pass from Kunitz.

"Whenever you get a 5-on-3, you hope to capitalize no matter how long it is," Perry said. "The guys on the ice did that. We've been talking about it and preaching that when we get the advantage, we have to take advantage, and we did that tonight."

The four goals in 8:07 were the fastest four goals for Anaheim since it scored four in 7 1/2 minutes on January 23, 2004 against the Minnesota Wild.

"It's nice," Perry said of scoring in flurries. "It makes it easier on our goalie, our defense, everybody throughout the whole team. It's a little more confidence for everybody on the bench."

Moen said he couldn't explain why the Ducks got off to a slow start.

"We knew we weren't playing well. We weren't doing the small things right. We knew they were taking it to us," Moen said. "We came out the last six, seven minutes of the first period and got our game back. We came out hard (in the second period), we knew what we had to do."

Carlyle said he didn't need a big speech to motivate the team.

"I didn't have to say that much," Carlyle said. "They recognized what we were doing. We weren't moving our feet and we turned the puck over far, far too many times. We tried too hard at times, tried to do too much and didn't simplify it."