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Selanne nets two as Ducks top Kings

Apr 6, 2008 - 12:13 AM By Craig Shultz PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Teemu Selanne scored two goals, including the game-winner at 6:28 of the third period, to lead the Anaheim Ducks a 4-3 victory Saturday over the Los Angeles Kings.

Defenseman Joe DiPenta and Ryan Getzlaf also tallied and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 28 saves for the Ducks, who will conclude their regular season Sunday against the Phoenix Coyotes before facing the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference quarterfinals next week.

The Kings now will turn their attention to the upcoming draft in June after finishing the season last in the West with 71 points.

Selanne snapped a 3-3 tie by taking a pass from Todd Bertuzzi and wristing a shot past goaltender Dan Cloutier for his second goal of the game and 12th of the season.

"I tried to find somebody to pass (to), but there was nothing open, so I just decided to shoot," Selanne said. "A lot of times when you shoot, good things happen."

Despite entering the final minute of the first period trailing, the Ducks went to the locker room with the lead after DiPenta and Selanne scored a franchise record-tying eight seconds apart.

DiPenta, a healthy scratch for 44 of the past 47 games, netted his first goal of the season on a shot from the right point with 50 seconds left.

"I had my head down, I got the puck and I just tried to shoot it toward the net," DiPenta said. "I was lucky to have the opportunity to get back in the lineup and play. You try to make the most of opportunities when you get them, especially when you don't know how many you're going to get."

Selanne said he was left wondering if the Ducks really need Norris Trophy-winning teammate Scott Niedermayer after DiPenta's goal.

"I was joking, 'Scotty who?'" Selanne said. "I think everybody was very happy to see Joe score the goal. That was a nice reward for him."

"I was pretty shocked," DiPenta added. "Whenever I get a goal, it's usually kind of surreal for me. It was fun. They always seem to happen when I least expect it."

Selanne then took the puck off Kings defenseman Jon Klemm's stick and skated in alone, beating Cloutier.

"(DiPenta) waited for the perfect screen in front, then let it go," Cloutier said. "Selanne, it was kind of a 1-on-1 with (defenseman Rob Blake) in the middle half. Selanne made a (heck) of a move and went across. There's not too many guys that can do those moves, but Teemu's one of those guys."

The eight-second span tied the franchise record for its fastest two goals set by Selanne and Chris Kunitz on November 30, 2005 against the Phoenix Coyotes.

The teams then traded goals early in the second period.

Brian Willsie scored on a rebound for the Kings at 2:21 to tie the game. Getzlaf gave the Ducks a short-lived lead 65 seconds later, but Patrick O'Sullivan knotted the contest exactly one minute afterward.

"A little part in the first period and the second period, I thought it was the All-Star Game," Selanne said. "Just goals, boom, boom."

"For part of the second period, it felt like the last shot was going to win the game," Cloutier said. "When a skill team like that comes into your building, you play the same way they do."

Dustin Brown also scored his team-high 33rd goal for the Kings, who have not reached the playoffs since 2001-02.

"It was a good year for me, but disappointing from a team standpoint," Brown said. "I felt good all year and I stayed healthy all year. I think it was a mixture of opportunity, experience and confidence."

Kings coach Marc Crawford said the game was symbolic of the team's season.

"We made a couple of turnovers that ended up costing us," Crawford said. "If you look at the game as a whole, it was fairly even. We probably had the better chances, but we gave up the big chance."

For Anaheim, it was a step toward their preparation for the playoffs.

"We look at this as a mental aspect of your game because you really have to push yourselves when games are played that don't have any affect on the overall standings," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "Also, there's people who have paid good money to watch the game. We think that we have that obligation, that we have to play to the best of our abilities."

"It's your job to play 82 games in a season," Giguere said. "They had nothing to lose and we knew that they wanted to win the last game of their season, especially in front of their fans. I expected them to come out hard, and they did that."