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Bertuzzi, Perry help Ducks extend home winning streak

Jan 10, 2008 - 7:24 AM By Craig Shultz PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Toronto Maple Leafs do not visit California very often, and with the way they were treated by the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, it's easy to see why they would not want to return anytime soon.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 28 saves and Todd Bertuzzi and Corey Perry each recorded a goal and two assists as the Ducks rolled to a 5-0 victory over the struggling Maple Leafs.

Doug Weight scored a tally and set up another and Ryan Getzlaf added a pair of assists for Anaheim, which extended its home winning streak to five games.

"It's a lot more fun than 2-1 games, I'll tell you right now," Bertuzzi said. "I think right now we seem to be moving the puck really well."

The Maple Leafs, who were playing in Anaheim for just the second time since March 1998 and first since November 13, 2003, went 0-for-6 on the power play in losing their third straight game and eighth in the last 10.

"When you play Canadian teams and you play the Toronto Maple Leafs, there's a lot of motivation," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We have 15 Canadians on the team. We know that this game is going back to a lot of friendships and relatives that are from the Ontario area, so this is an easy game to get motivated for."

Giguere turned aside 10 shots in the first period and nine in each of the final two sessions for his second shutout of the season. It also was the 30-year-old's 27th career blanking, tying the franchise record set by Guy Hebert.

"We had a good power play and a good penalty-kill tonight," Giguere said. "We've been focusing a lot more defensively, and we feel that the scoring will take care of itself. Tonight, we took care of our own zone and the offensive skills came through."

Anaheim scored five goals for the second straight time after netting just 12 over its previous six games.

"When the goals start going in for guys who haven't contributed as frequently as they want to, the confidence goes up, and I think we're getting a lot of that," Bertuzzi said. "Whenever you can get secondary scoring, it's a bonus for a team."

"We talked about our inability to score goals probably for 30-plus games," added Carlyle, whose team went 2-for-4 on the power play. "Now that we've finally scored a couple in back-to-back games, we feel pretty good about ourselves. Offense in the new NHL comes from your power play, and a lot of tight games are being played. The special teams are the difference in a lot of hockey games and they will continue to be as you go down the stretch here."

Bertuzzi scored on a breakaway 2:11 into the game to give the Ducks an early lead and Giguere all the support he needed.

The much-maligned power forward received a pass from defenseman Mathieu Schneider at the Maple Leafs' blue line and skated in alone on Vesa Toskala. Bertuzzi faked to his right and shot to his left to beat the goaltender, who returned to the lineup after missing six games with a groin injury.

"I think the defenseman fell that was chasing me and (Schneider) made a heads-up play and got it to me," Bertuzzi said. "I knew I had some room to be a little bit creative on it."

A turnover by Toronto led to Anaheim's second goal late in the period.

Defenseman Hal Gill fell at the Ducks' blue line, allowing Bertuzzi to pick up the puck and skate in. He dropped a pass to Corey Perry, who swung wide to his right and beat Toskala with a wrist shot from the right faceoff dot, putting the puck between the Finn's right arm and body with six seconds remaining in the session.

"We fell down twice and just weren't able to recover or react enough," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said.

Perry increased his team-leading goals total to 23, while Getzlaf stretched his points streak to a career-high nine games with an assist on the play.

"We didn't have the greatest first (period). I think we were pretty fortunate to be up 2-0," Bertuzzi said. "As the game went on, we took total control of it. We're doing a lot of good things out there."

After a scoreless middle session, Brandon Bochenski - who was acquired from Boston on January 2 - increased the lead to 3-0 at 4:16 of the third.

Getzlaf picked up the puck after crashing into Nik Antropov at the blue line and passed to Bertuzzi, who fed Bochenski from the right circle. After kicking the puck to his stick, Bochenski beat Toskala for his first tally since March 29.

"Getz made a great play. It was kind of a tic-tac-toe play, and I just put it in," Bochenski said. "It's been great coming here. The guys made me feel comfortable right away. It's definitely a fresh start here with the Stanley Cup champions."

Weight added a power-play goal 2 1/2 minutes later to give the Ducks a four-goal bulge. From the top of the left circle, Perry dished to Weight, who attempted to stop the puck with his right skate but watched it carom into the net at 6:46.

After initially having the goal waved off, Weight was credited with his seventh of the season following a video review.

"I think what sold it was, I think I touched the puck," Weight said. "I broke my stick. I was able to reach it and I think I touched it before it went in."

Chris Kunitz buried a rebound from the doorstep during a man advantage midway through the third to provide the final margin. Weight recorded his 700th career assist on the play, becoming the fifth American-born player to reach the plateau.

"It's pretty cool," Weight said. "You come in the league and you want to make the NHL and you want to stick with the team. You want to play three, four years and try to be a good player, a regular on a team. That's a feat I'm proud of.

"More so when you're done, you can look back and be proud of it for your family. I think I've benefitted from a lot of great players around me, a lot of great teammates. Hopefully, it's a two-way street."

Toskala made 19 saves for Toronto, which was shut out for the first time in 65 games. The Maple Leafs last were blanked on February 20 by the Bruins.

"We are going through some tough times right now," Toronto captain Mats Sundin said. "We have a new game (Thursday). Sometimes when you have a game like this, it's nice to play right away the next night so we have a good chance to bounce back."

"We needed to put the puck in the net on the power play and we just couldn't do it," said Maurice, whose club went 0-for-6 with the man advantage. "We had enough opportunities on it to score goals and we couldn't do it."

Despite the negative outcome, Toskala was glad to return to the Maple Leafs' lineup.

"I felt pretty good overall. My body felt good and I saw the puck pretty well, too," he said. "I'm happy with the way I felt, but I'm not happy I couldn't help my team more tonight. I think the team worked pretty hard, we just couldn't score a goal."