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Kunitz nets pair as Ducks dump Devils

Jan 12, 2009 - 5:33 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Chris Kunitz snapped a tie early in the third period and tallied again later in the session as the Anaheim Ducks recorded a 4-3 triumph over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.

Rookie Bobby Ryan and Samuel Pahlsson also scored, Corey Perry notched two assists and Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned aside 18 shots for Anaheim, which snapped a modest two-game losing streak.

"You just have to roll with the punches and hope at the end of the day you'll end up winning the game," Giguere said. "Tonight, after every bounce they had, we answered back big time."

"He's been going through some tough times and this will help get his confidence back," defenseman Chris Pronger said of Giguere. "As a group, we haven't been giving him much (help). He's been working very hard. It's important that we feed on this game."

Veteran Bobby Holik, David Clarkson and Zach Parise scored and Scott Clemmensen finished with 30 saves for New Jersey, which fell to 1-3-0 in its last four games.

Kunitz snapped a 2-2 tie just 96 seconds into the third period after he circled the net and tucked the puck just inside the left goalpost before Clemmensen could span the crease.

"It seems that he had the puck wrapped around the post. I didn't see it go in," Kunitz said.

Clemmensen was stunned that the officials declared it a goal so quickly.

"He (ref) didn't even want to review it. He said it was a goal right away," Clemmensen said. "I didn't think it was that obvious, but apparently he knew that it was, and I don't know. I'm glad they reviewed it, but I guess they saw that it conclusively went in. I'm not sure, I know it was underneath me.

"I'm not sure how they did it, but I guess it was a goal. Some of my pads and my legs ended up behind the goal line, but I knew I had the puck underneath me. I don't know what the exact ruling is, but you have to actually see the puck cross the goal line. Maybe they did, but I knew it was somewhere underneath me, and I didn't think that it was going to be called a goal, but as soon as I asked the ref right away, he said that without a doubt that it was a goal. But I'm glad they reviewed it."

Giguere preserved the slim lead by denying captain Jamie Langenbrunner on a breakaway with 12 1/2 minutes remaining in the third.

"I came out of the net and played the puck," Giguere said. "I tried to be real patient, and I stopped him."

"I just ran out of room there," Langenbrunner said. "He came from such a tight angle, and not much speed after that. He (Giguere) had a good push off. I didn't get much on it and kind of bumped into his glove a little bit."

The netminder also received a little help after Brian Gionta's wrist shot hit the right goalpost nearly three minutes later.

Kunitz added his second of the night and 11th of the season with 3:33 remaining after wristing a shot past Clemmensen and under the crossbar for his second multi-goal game of the season and ninth of career.

"It was nice to see Kunitz come through," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "I thought it was his best game in a long time. He was skating and banging and the puck seemed to follow him around that way."

Parise halved the deficit with 30 seconds remaining, but the Devils were unable to net the equalizer.

The Devils opened the scoring with 7:07 remaining in the first period after defenseman Mike Mottau's shot caromed off both Jay Pandolfo and Holik and into the net. The 38-year-old Holik was credited with his second tally of the campaign.

"I don't even know how that first goal went in; I have no idea," Holik said. "It doesn't mean much, especially on a day when you lose.

"Numbers are for people who have them, for me it's just another game that we lost and we need those two points on the road. With our performance tonight, maybe we would've beaten the L.A. Kings like we did last night, but it's just not good enough against the Ducks."

Ryan leveled the contest nearly 2 1/2 minutes later after accepting a cross-slot feed from Brendan Morrison and sending it past Clemmensen for his sixth goal in his last five games.

Pahlsson gave the Ducks a 2-1 advantage with nine seconds left in the first period, but Clarkson leveled the contest after poking home a loose puck on the doorstep for a power-play goal with 3:04 remaining in the second session.