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Getzlaf, Kunitz help Ducks to fourth straight win over Kings

Nov 26, 2007 - 6:14 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Ryan Getzlaf is proving the Anaheim Ducks spent their money wisely.

Getzlaf scored a pair of goals and Chris Kunitz banged home a rebound for the go-ahead tally as Anaheim posted a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 23 shots and Todd Bertuzzi had a pair of assists for Anaheim, which has won four straight against Los Angeles since losing the season opener in London.

The Ducks rallied from a two-goal deficit thanks to Getzlaf, who signed a $26.62 million contract on Tuesday and is providing early dividends to that hefty payday.

"Getzie's one of those special players," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said."He can do a lot of things. The most important thing that I thought he did in tonight's hockey game, he was a physical force. That's an element of his game that cannot subside."

After already extending his points streak to eight games with a second-period goal, the four-year veteran tied the game at 2-2 at 8:02 of the third. Getzlaf took a pass from Bertuzzi, made a nifty move in front of the net and slipped the puck between goaltender Jason LaBarbera's pads.

"I kind of fumbled it a little bit and had to kick it to my backhand and I was able to fight it through his legs," Getzlaf said.

"It was a rush play, he had a lot of speed, I think our (defensemen) maybe got sucked back a little bit," LaBarbera said. "I couldn't find them, I was just trying to look around for the defensemen, and I just kind of got caught flat footed. I didn't know where he (Getzlaf) was and by the time I found him, he was backhand in the slot. I just tried to react to it, but it's tough to make a scramble play in the slot with a good player like that. He just slid it home."

Getzlaf said the momentum swung to the Ducks before his goal.

"We had guys start hitting a little bit, we got pucks going our way and our goaltender made a few big saves to keeps us in that thing," Getzlaf said. "I thought our guys rallied around pretty good."

"Sometimes you play teams that are pretty good and they are going to come back," Kings captain Rob Blake said. "I didn't think we battled hard enough in the third here tonight like we did last night to come out with that victory (in San Jose)."

Kunitz scored the game-winner when he gathered a rebound on the left side of the net and fired a shot into the top lefthand corner with 3:16 remaining.

Bertuzzi's slap shot from the left side deflected off LaBarbera's left blocker and caromed right to Kunitz, who tallied his eighth goal of the season.

"It was a nice knockdown pass from (Andy McDonald). He came up the ice and knocked the puck down, took it into the zone and dropped it for (Kent Huskins). Husk had a great shot, hit a post, went to the corner, Mac got it through toward the net, hit a leg, Bertuzzi shot, hit another post, and it kind of just popped on my stick," Kunitz said. "It's nice to get one in. It felt like the puck was kind of fighting it tonight, but it was nice to get one at the end."

Anaheim spotted Los Angeles a 2-0 lead but rallied behind the white-hot Getzlaf.

Getzlaf, who has six goals in his last seven games, sliced the Ducks' deficit in half when he redirected a shot by Francois Beauchemin into the net 3:43 into the second.

"I was just trying get a stick on it. I'm not trying to put it anywhere," Getzlaf said of the shot, which he deflected through his legs. "It's a matter of a good shot, being able to get a stick on it and it went through."

"I think everybody goes through hot and cold (streaks). It's a matter of keeping them to a minimum," Getzlaf said. "Right now things are going in for me. It's a result of my teammates around me. (Corey Perry) is playing hard, now we have (Brian Sutherby) on our line and I think we're moving the puck really well and the puck's finding the net."

Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead thanks to first-period goals from Kyle Calder and Dustin Brown.

"The first period was pretty bad for us," Kunitz said. "We didn't capitalize on power plays, they got the momentum. The second period kind of switched a little and the third we were taking control and keeping it in their end. We've been giving up leads late it was nice to come from behind. It was a momentum builder for our team."

The Kings had a 6-on-3 advantage for the last 54 seconds of the game, but were unable to score.

"We got a few bounces that went our way, finally, with their goaltender out," Carlyle said. "The way things were going in the hockey game, you have to credit our guys with reaching back, because we had a terrible first period. That's not the type of hockey that's going to win you many hockey games.

"I thought we played very, very well for the last two periods of the hockey game. and that was enough to get it down tonight."

LaBarbera stopped 29 shots for Los Angeles, which was coming off a win Saturday night in San Jose.

"We had a 2-1 lead going into the third and we just didn't do enough of the little things to win." LaBarbera said. "Going into the third, they got the goals they needed and we never did. That was the difference the last two games (with Anaheim). ... They capitalized on their chances and we never did."

"I thought we did some decent things during the game, playing in a very difficult game," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "They were rested and we're fairly tired from the travel, but it comes down to the execution that you've got in a lot of the little areas."