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Getzlaf rallies Ducks past Coyotes

Apr 7, 2008 - 4:33 AM By Craig Shultz PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Now that the preliminaries are over, it's time for the Anaheim Ducks to start their defense of the Stanley Cup.

All-Star Ryan Getzlaf scored in the fourth round of the shootout and rookie Jonas Hiller denied Daniel Carcillo to seal the win as the Ducks rallied to a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Sunday in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Chris Kunitz and rookie Bobby Ryan scored 43 seconds apart in the third period for fourth-seeded Anaheim (47-27-8), which improved to 20-5-1 since Teemu Selanne rejoined the team and will open its Western Conference quarterfinal series at home against Pacific Division rival Dallas (45-30-7) on Thursday.

"We've had a tough time against them in the regular season," Kunitz said of the Stars. "(They're a) tough team to play. We always play hard games (and) they're always tight games. It's going to be a long, hard series, for sure."

Carcillo, who recorded his first career hat trick in the Coyotes' 4-2 victory over the Stars on Friday, scored both goals in regulation and former Ducks goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov made 41 saves for Phoenix.

With Anaheim trailing by two goals with 7:01 remaining in the third period, Kunitz blasted a shot past Bryzgalov for his 21st goal of the season.

"It was just a faceoff play," Kunitz said. "It popped out and Teemu made a great pass to put it on net. It hit the net and I think it went off (Bryzgalov's) shoulder and went into the net."

Ryan leveled the contest shortly thereafter, banking a shot off defenseman Keith Ballard's backside and past Bryzgalov for his fifth tally of the campaign.

"I think it was a pretty honest game on both ends for both teams," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "We got caught out of position on the first goal. Then the second goal hit Ballard in the rear end and deflected in. We played pretty hard."

The Ducks closed the season with two games against teams who failed to qualify for the playoffs but found them difficult nonetheless.

"They are tough games to play," Kunitz said. "The only thing beneficial for us was to get those extra two points. It took us a little while to get kick-started. It wasn't a very entertaining game. There wasn't a lot of hitting and it wasn't really physical. That's not our style of play. We started getting physical and we had to put some pressure on them, and we ended up getting two goals and took it into overtime and a shootout."

"We knew that our emotional level would be taxed," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "We weren't very good for probably three quarters of the game. We had a decent of enough start, then we had a real decent finish and we won a shootout."

Carcillo opened the scoring with 4:49 remaining in the second period, when he corralled the rebound of a shot by rookie Kyle Turris and slipped the puck past Hiller. The assist was the first career point for Turris, who was the third overall pick of the 2007 draft.

Carcillo doubled Phoenix's advantage exactly four minutes into the third, sliding the puck into the net after Radim Vrbata was stopped twice by Hiller. After the second save, Vrbata sent the puck across the crease to the wide-open Carcillo.

"It's easier to score goals from the ice than it is if you are in the penalty box," Gretzky said of Carcillo, who led the league with 324 penalty minutes. "I think he's learned there's a fine line. We need him to play with an edge, we need him to be physical, but you can't score if you are in the penalty box.

"I'm happy that he's played really strong here at the end." Captain Chris Pronger returned to Anaheim's lineup after serving an eight-game suspension for stomping on the leg of Vancouver center Ryan Kesler on March 12.

"It was obviously nice to get back on the ice and get back in a game," Pronger said. "It will be real tough on Thursday when we start against Dallas, and it's nice to get into live action and get a feel for the tempo of the game and a little more structure than just practice, practice, practice."

Phoenix played its first penalty-free game since December 30, 1981, when it accomplished the feat against the Hartford Whalers while known as the Winnipeg Jets.

Although he went from the Stanley Cup champions to out of the playoffs, Bryzgalov said he's happy to be playing in Phoenix.

"I like to be in this position when I play a lot. I like to have the responsibility on my shoulders, and I like to play for these guys who play really hard in front of me," Bryzgalov said. "We make some mistakes, like everybody, me too, but it's a good group of young guys - and I think if we continue to work hard, and work with a passion, we will be in the playoffs really soon."

Gretzky sees a bright future as well.

"We are not where we want to be. Obviously, we'd like to be playing Wednesday or Thursday, but we are one of the younger teams in the league," Gretzky said. "We matured quite a bit and we grew up a lot. Now we've got a ways to go. Obviously, some moves would make us better for next season. You miss the playoffs, changes are made.

"The difference being we have a core group of guys now, who we know that are going to (be) part of the franchise for years to come. ... There's no question we will be a young team next year, but we are going to stay the course. We like what we have, we're going to keep going forward, keep pushing."