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Hamhuis nets game-winner as Predators outlast Ducks

Nov 15, 2008 - 9:09 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Things are so bad for the Anaheim Ducks at home, they cannot even count on a win over the Nashville Predators.

Defenseman Dan Hamhuis scored 2:17 into overtime, lifting the Predators to a 4-3 victory over the Ducks on Friday.

J.P. Dumont, Ryan Jones and Joel Ward also tallied and Dan Ellis stopped 32 shots for Nashville, which had lost 17 of its previous 18 visits here (1-15-2).

"It was a good battle and a good win for us," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We'll take it on the road. This is a tough place to come into."

The Predators improved to 2-3-0 on their six-game road trip.

"We're on a very tough road trip right now and we are on the tail end of it," Hamhuis said. "We didn't start very well, but we are playing in some tough buildings. Our team hasn't been playing that well, and we really turned it around tonight."

Ryan Getzlaf recorded a goal and an assist for Anaheim, which has lost three straight at home. Brendan Morrison and Chris Kunitz also tallied and Teemu Selanne notched three assists for the Ducks.

"We're scoring enough goals right now, but I don't think we're being as assertive as we have to be in our own zone," Morrison said. "We have to be sharper out there. At times, we were a little passive."

Anaheim is just 4-5-2 at the Honda Center this season. Its struggles here continued thanks to a defensive miscue by Scott Niedermayer.

"We had a few little breakdowns in our end that led to some of their chances," the Ducks' captain said. "When you're playing a team that plays well like they did tonight, you can't do that.

"They were coming with some speed down the side. I went in behind (defenseman Kent Huskins), got the puck and probably should have kept it going as opposed to putting it back where everybody was. That led us into some trouble there."

After Niedermayer turned over the puck near the left wing boards, Predators captain Jason Arnott sent a pass to Hamhuis, who one-timed a shot from the slot past goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

"Nieder got the puck and I thought that he was going to reverse it, and he ended up reversing it past our guy," Arnott said. "I just read it and intercepted it and saw (Hamhuis) coming down the slot. I just tried to throw it out to him, and he made a great shot."

"I had just come off a change and I saw the puck dumped in the corner," Hamhuis said. "I knew that Arnott was probably going to get possession of it, so I kind of jumped down a bit. He made a fantastic pass through the slot."

In a back-and-forth third period, Getzlaf tied the game at 3-3 on the power play when he poked in a rebound during a scramble in front of the net at 9:33.

Prior to that, Ward had given Nashville a brief lead at 4:35, when he deflected blue-liner Shea Weber's slap shot from the left faceoff circle past Giguere and into the left side of the net.

The opening session was full of action as the teams traded goals at a feverish pace. Morrison opened the scoring just 1:59 in, but Jones knotted it at 1-1 at 5:54 with a man-advantage tally.

Dumont put the Predators ahead less than six minutes later with his third goal of the campaign before Kunitz's power-play tally with 4:55 left in the period forged another deadlock.

Giguere stopped 31 shots for the Ducks, who have not lost to the Predators in regulation here since January 14, 2001.

"It was a see-saw battle and a good compete game," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "There was quite a high pace to the play. I liked our effort. We lost a point in overtime. We're not going to get down. We'll correct some mistakes and work on that tomorrow."