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Giguere garners second straight shutout, blanks Islanders

Feb 6, 2008 - 4:04 AM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- The Anaheim Ducks are on their way to the White House. Thanks to a solid effort from Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the defending Stanley Cup champions have something to celebrate along the way.

Giguere stopped 25 shots for his franchise-record 29th career shutout and Teemu Selanne recorded an assist in his season debut as the Ducks snapped a six-game losing streak with a 3-0 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Defenseman Scott Niedermayer ended Anaheim's goalless drought at 177 minutes, 56 seconds when he scored early in the second period, and that proved to be enough for Giguere to lead the Ducks to their first win since January 18 at Minnesota.

Todd Marchant and Doug Weight also tallied for the Ducks, who had gone 0-3-1 over the first four games of a nine-game road trip. The team will take to a detour to the nation's capital on Wednesday, when it will be honored by President George W. Bush for winning the championship last season in a ceremony at the White House.

"It's an honor for us to represent the city of Anaheim and the NHL and to meet the President," said Giguere, a native of Montreal. "It's one the perks that you get, and I'm very honored."

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle seemed more concerned that the trip to Washington would cost his team a practice date on Wednesday. "A win makes the trip nicer," Carlyle said. "It's another obstacle we have to get over."

Rick DiPietro made 23 saves for the Islanders, who dropped their fifth straight game overall and seventh in a row at home.

New York, which has netted just five goals in the five consecutive defeats, played without center Mike Sillinger, who is expected to be sidelined three weeks with a hip injury. The team also has had several players battling the flu.

"We have plenty of guys who are hurt and sick, but every team has that," DiPietro said. "We have to focus on who's here and playing, and we have to get out of this funk. We've got to fight through it. The bottom line is, we have to win games."

Giguere, who was credited with his third shutout of the season in a 1-0 shootout loss at St. Louis on Friday, turned aside eight shots in the first period, seven in the second and 10 in the third en route to the blanking against the Islanders.

"I don't play for shutouts. I play for wins," Giguere said.

Giguere also received help midway through the second period, when defenseman Mathieu Schneider prevented New York captain Bill Guerin from getting off a shot at a vacant net.

The Ducks welcomed back Selanne, a 10-time All-Star who sat out the first four months of this season while contemplating retirement.

"I really enjoyed being home with my family, but I hit the point where I wanted to play again," Selanne said. "I didn't think it was going to be easy. It was baby steps going forward, and this was one of them."

Niedermayer also sat out the start of the season before returning in December, giving the Ducks two key components as they chase another Stanley Cup.

Niedermayer opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 2:36 of the middle period, taking a cross-ice pass from captain Chris Pronger and beating DiPietro with a one-timer from the right faceoff circle.

The reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Niedermayer had gone eight games without a goal, last scoring on January 15 against Dallas.

Marchant scored on a backhander from the left circle at 2:51 of the third, giving Anaheim a 2-0 bulge. Weight capped the scoring less than five minutes later, putting a shot from between the circles past DiPietro at 7:34.

"Our team has been desperate," Weight said. "Hopefully, this is something we can build on."

New York's Miroslav Satan left the game after slamming his right leg into the end boards midway through the first period but returned in the second.

"It's something I've had for a few weeks and I've been playing through it," said Satan, who originally injured the knee in a 3-2 overtime loss to Vancouver on January 8. "We made the decision that it was good enough to play on it."