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Niedermayer fuels Ducks past Stars

Jan 16, 2008 - 8:37 AM By Joel Bergman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) - Since his return to the ice 14 games ago, Scott Niedermayer has been more facilitator than scorer. On Tuesday, he did both.

Niedermayer had a goal and two assists for the Anaheim Ducks en route to a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars.

After sitting out the Ducks' first 34 games while pondering retirement, Niedermayer has returned to an Anaheim team that missed the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner. He has netted two goals and recorded nine assists since his season debut on December 16, guiding the Ducks to a 10-2-2 record.

"I don't get surprised anymore," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said of Niedermayer. "I've been fortunate enough that he's been on our hockey club for three years. The things that he does and how effective he can be with and without the puck, it doesn't surprise me. He dominates in a lot of areas. He's a special player. It's the best game he's played this year."

"He is so great at making other players better," center Todd Marchant said of the former Ducks captain. "Look at the way that (Todd) Bertuzzi is playing. Look at (Ryan) Getzlaf. I think that is (Niedermayer's) best quality."

After Dallas opened the scoring 3:13 into the contest on Niklas Hagman's 15th goal of the season, the Ducks wasted little time, scoring just 88 seconds later.

Bertuzzi found Corey Perry with a nifty backhand pass at the top of the right circle. Perry found a cutting Niedermayer, who flipped the puck from the slot past netminder Marty Turco for his second goal of the season.

"Both those guys made pretty nice plays," Niedermayer said. "I just had to try and find 80 percent net. It's fun when plays work like that."

The Ducks scored the next two goals of the contest as well - both of which were assisted by Niedermayer - among their 16 consecutive shots on goal between Dallas shots.

The Stars' league-best penalty-killing unit held the Ducks off the board on several good scoring chances midway through the second period.

However, the Ducks took the lead at 2-1 at 9:02 of the second, less than a minute after the teams returned to even strength.

Turco stopped a shot from near the left post by Todd Marchant and swatted the rebound behind the net. Marchant hustled around the goal and recovered the puck near the right post, where he tucked the puck between the post and the sprawling Dallas netminder for his fourth goal of the season.

Getzlaf doubled the lead at 13:42 of the second with his 18th goal of the campaign.

Niedermayer - quarterbacking the resurgent Ducks' power play - took the first of a series of shots on Turco. Brandon Bochenski was stopped on the first rebound, but Getzlaf popped in the second rebound on the open left side to increase Anaheim's lead to 3-1.

"There was a bit of a scramble on the shot," Getzlaf said. "Guys were battling for the puck, and it ended up at the side of the net where I was."

Getzlaf's goal stretched his career-high point scoring streak to 11 consecutive games, the franchise's longest since Andy McDonald's 11-game streak from January 23-February 12, 2006.

The Stars halved the deficit with only 23 seconds left in the second on a goal from Loui Eriksson, but Bertuzzi answered with an insurance goal at 8:37 to cap the fourth straight victory for Anaheim.

"There was a lot of mistakes out there right now by veteran (defensemen)," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "He (Turco) was under siege a lot of times. Our special teams weren't good. We got beat in that game, and we got beat in the physical game, and we got beat on the scoreboard all the way around."

Jean-Sebastien Giguere recorded 22 saves for the win while Turco turned away 32 shots for Dallas.

"It was tough for me, I was staring down the barrel of a lot of shots," Turco said. "We certainly (had) our chances, and we know we can do better. I think we expected what we got from them. That's a good team, and they have been playing great."