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Selanne, Pahlsson help Ducks edge Avalanche

Feb 13, 2008 - 6:41 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Fresh legs often mean a lot to a hockey team. They certainly did to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

Teemu Selanne scored his first goal of the season and Samuel Pahlsson snapped a tie late in the third period as the Ducks skated to a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 32 saves for Anaheim, which concluded its nine-game road trip with a fifth straight win.

"It's a tough game for us, the last game of the road trip," Pahlsson said. "It's easy to think about other things. We battled hard, and that's what got us the win."

"Unbelievable road trip," Selanne added. "We finished up very strong. We won the last five, and that's a good sign."

With the Ducks trailing after one period, Selanne capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play early in the second to forge a tie.

"Every time we get a power play, my eyes light up," he said. "Obviously, you're going to get a good chance. Nothing is going to come automatically in this league. You have to work hard."

Electing to forego retirement after taking the first half of the season to make his decision, Selanne inked a one-year contract with Anaheim on January 28. The "Finnish Flash" recorded two assists in his first four games before firing a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle that glanced off the glove of goaltender Jose Theodore and into the net 69 seconds into the middle period.

"I have to be patient. There's a price to pay," Selanne said. "It's getting better. I'm not even close to 100 percent. It's like training camp for me."

Despite scoring, Selanne was not pleased with his shot selection.

"I tried to go really high, but I didn't get it as high as I wanted," he said.

The goal was Selanne's 669th point as a Duck, tying Paul Kariya for the franchise lead.

The game remained even until the final minutes of the third, when Anaheim's checking line came up with a timely goal.

From behind the net, Rob Niedermayer lifted a pass to the doorstep, where it hit Travis Moen and dropped to the ice. Playing in just his second game after missing 21 with abdominal inflammation, Pahlsson tapped the loose puck inside the left goalpost with 4:21 remaining, giving the Ducks a 2-1 edge.

"Those are the kind of goals that are going to be scored down the stretch," Theodore said. "It's just an ugly goal."

"I'm a defensive center, I know that," Pahlsson said. "It's fun to score a goal."

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle was glad to see his defensive forwards account for the winning tally.

"It's good to see checkers get rewarded," he said. "They worked hard and played the tough minutes. They are usually not the guys who get all the praise because their minutes are tough ones. They're preventing goals, not scoring them."

Marek Svatos got Colorado on the board early with his 25th goal of the season. After Giguere stopped Wojtek Wolski's shot from the top of the left circle, Svatos pounced on the rebound and fired a backhander past the netminder from the bottom of the circle 97 seconds into the contest.

It was the third goal in two games for Svatos.

Colorado outshot Anaheim, 18-11, in the opening period, a fact that did not sit well with Carlyle.

"We weren't very good in the first period. They came at us hard," he said. "Anytime you give up (18) shots in a period, you're not real happy about it."

Theodore stopped 27 shots for the Avalanche, who had won six straight home meetings with the Ducks.

"It felt like a playoff game and it was played like a playoff game," Theodore said. "We played hard. ... I'm happy with the way the guys competed for 60 minutes."

"They're a really good hockey team and unfortunately, we didn't come up with any points," Colorado's Milan Hejduk added.