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Kunitz, Selanne power Ducks past Coyotes

Nov 20, 2006 - 3:58 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Chris Kunitz helped the Anaheim Ducks extend their mastery of the Phoenix Coyotes - with a big contribution from Teemu Selanne.

Kunitz scored three goals and Selanne had five assists as the Ducks snapped a two-game losing streak with a 6-4 win over the Coyotes.

It was the first career hat trick for Kunitz, who scored the go-ahead goal at 9:21 of the final period. The 27-year-old left wing now has 13 tallies this season, just six shy of his total from 2005-2006.

Selanne assisted on the Ducks' first five goals to surpass his previous career high of four that he accomplished twice.

Andy McDonald added two first-period goals, giving the Ducks' top line 13 points for the contest.

"It was one of those nights where almost everything worked for us," Selanne said. It's a confidence thing. On this team everyone has a job to do, and our line is expected to be the high-scoring line. It was our line that did all the damage."

Anaheim (14-2-5) beat Phoenix for the eighth consecutive time and is 13-0-1 against the Coyotes since November 9, 2003.

On the eventual winning goal, Selanne wound up for a slap shot from the right point and Kunitz deftly redirected it past goaltender Curtis Joseph.

"That last one was just a tip. When you drive the net hard, good things happen," Kunitz said. "(Sunday) is probably the first night that we really got it clicking. We've done it most nights, but sometimes the puck falls a little better on certain nights. (It) was one of those nights."

Phoenix went ahead, 1-0, just 3:09 into the game when Ed Jovankowski beat netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere on the power play.

McDonald answered less than five minutes later with the man advantage and put the Ducks ahead, 2-1, with his second goal at 13:26.

The teams traded goals in the second period. Kunitz made it 3-1 with a power-play tally but Yanic Perrault halved the deficit while the Coyotes had the extra skater at 11:56.

Kunitz restored the two-goal cushion 61 seconds later before Georges Laraque pulled Phoenix within 4-3 with a power-play tally with 36 seconds left in the period.

"Just like last game, we showed we can come back," Laraque said. "But there were key power plays for them and they won the game because of it.

"They've got the best power play in the league and that's what won the game. You almost wonder how they could not score on the power play."

Mike Zigomanis finally got the Coyotes even at the 2:07 mark of the final session, but Kunitz scored the game-winner just over seven minutes later and Rob Niedermayer added an empty-net tally with three seconds to play.

Phoenix (6-14-0) converted 3-of-4 power-play chances while Anaheim was 2-of-5.

Giguere made 24 saves in improving to 11-1-4. Joseph also had 24 saves for the Coyotes.