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Ducks power past Blue Jackets

Mar 30, 2007 - 4:17 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- The Anaheim Ducks are closing in on the first division title in team history.

Defenseman Chris Pronger scored two goals and added an assist as the Ducks rallied for a 5-2 triumph over the Columbus Blue Jackets, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

With the win, Anaheim (46-20-12) moved six points ahead of idle Dallas (46-24-6) and San Jose (47-26-4) in the Pacific Division. The Ducks also climbed within one of Nashville (49-22-7) and Detroit (47-19-11) for the top seed in the Western Conference.

"Every game is critical for us right now," Pronger said. "We want to finish the season strong and go into the playoffs playing well. There are several teams that are fighting for the top spot, so we are just going to have to go out and play hard these last four games and see what happens."

"Right now, we have a lot of teams nipping at our heels, so these points are huge right now," Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf added. "You can finish sixth or seventh pretty quick if you are not careful."

Anaheim fell behind, 2-1, just 62 seconds into the third period, when a wrist shot by former Duck Sergei Fedorov from the slot beat goaltender Fredrik Norrena.

However, Anaheim made the most of its power-play opportunities in the session, scoring three times with the man advantage to grab a 4-2 lead.

"The power play stepped up tonight. We kind of got in a rhythm and things started to click there in the third," Pronger said. "That third period, they got that early goal. I told the boys, 'They got theirs, now let's go get ours,' and we came right back and scored the tying goal and then went ahead."

"The power play. They scored when they had to," Norrena said. "What can I say?"

Defenseman Francois Beauchemin began the outburst by converting a pretty pass from Teemu Selanne at 3:48 to knot the contest. Less than four minutes later, Getzlaf gave the Ducks the lead for good when his crossing pass through the crease deflected into the net off the leg of Columbus blue-liner Ron Hainsey.

The power-play goal was Getzlaf's 24th tally of the season.

With just over five minutes remaining in regulation and the Ducks on a 4-on-3 advantage, Pronger scored his second goal of the game and 13th of the season, blasting a one-timer past Norrena from the top of the right faceoff circle.

"We were in control. We worked them, but then their special teams worked us," said Columbus' Rick Nash, who recorded an assist. "They scored on their power play and they killed ours. We totally lost the game through our special teams."

"We had a 2-1 lead. We took penalties," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They have a great power play. Our goal was to not put them on the power play. We did it in the third. We did a great job for two periods, playing the way we needed to play to beat them. We didn't get the job done in the third."

Selanne scored his 45th of the season into an empty net in the final seconds, capping a four-point performance. The "Finnish Flash" also had three assists.

"We have played a long time like it's the playoffs. Every game is critical," Selanne said. "We just want to play well and try not to get anyone hurt. We have four games left and we are going to play hard and smart and try to go into the playoffs on a high note and healthy."

Defenseman Aaron Johnson also scored for Columbus, which had won four of the previous five meetings between the teams.

Fredrik Modin, who scored five goals during the Blue Jackets' four-game winning streak, left the contest in the second period with a groin injury and will be re-evaluated Friday.