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Selanne leads Ducks to fifth straight win

Dec 2, 2006 - 11:48 PM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Anaheim Ducks continue to soar. Teemu Selanne is proving to be quite a pilot.

Selanne recorded his third multi-goal effort in seven games and Andy McDonald recorded two assists as the Ducks withstood a late rally and extended their winning streak to five with a 4-3 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings.

Travis Moen and Rob Niedermayer also scored for the league-leading Ducks, who have won seven of their last eight games and earned a point in 26 of their 28 contests.

"I think it's good that we won, but it wasn't really anything special," said Selanne, who also had an assist. "Winning is winning, that's all that really matters. ... We'll take the two points and move on."

With Anaheim already ahead 1-0, Selanne beat goaltender Dan Cloutier to the short side less than 12 1/2 minutes into the game with a one-timer from the left faceoff circle off a cross-slot pass from McDonald. The "Finnish Flash" gave the Ducks a 4-0 bulge 72 seconds into the third period with another one-timer from the top of the left circle.

"I just try to make the right decision at the right time, whether it's time to shoot or pass," Selanne said. "When you play with great players, you get great passes and you know when it's time to shoot."

Selanne has scored eight goals in his last seven contests and earned at least one point in 10 of the last 11.

"Some nights you shoot and some nights you pass," he said. "That's how it goes. As long as you make the right decision, you can't start forcing things."

Los Angeles rallied for three straight tallies but fell just short against Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who made 38 saves in improving to 3-0-0 against the Kings this season.

"They never quit," Giguere said. "They worked really hard. In the second and third (periods), I think they definitely outworked us a little bit. I don't think we can play like that if we want to win against teams like that."

Samuel Pahlsson registered his 100th career point with an assist and Moen also set up a goal for Anaheim, which improved to 8-1-2 on the road.

"It wasn't a perfect game, but we did a lot of things well in the hockey game and we did enough to win," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "I don't think you can get yourself into a position where you're critiquing wins."

Scott Thornton, defenseman Rob Blake and Dustin Brown scored for the Kings, whose winless streak against the Ducks reached seven games (0-5-2).

"These are our cross-town rivals," said Los Angeles coach Marc Crawford, whose team visits Anaheim on Sunday. "These guys are kings of the castle right now and they are on the top of the heap. We have to play with a lot of emotion in order to beat them tomorrow or anytime."

"Whether we play them back-to-back, it doesn't matter," Kings right wing Dustin Brown added. "Every time we play the Ducks, it's always a pretty intense game, and we've got to be ready."

Moen opened the scoring at 4:11 of the first period with his fourth goal of the campaign. Cloutier stopped Pahlsson's backhander from the bottom of the right circle, but Moen pounced on the rebound just above the crease for a 1-0 lead.

Playing in his 800th career game, Niedermayer made it a three-goal advantage for Anaheim with 2:38 to go in the second session. Moen unleashed a wrist shot from the right circle that deflected off Niedermayer and into the left corner of the net.

The goal initially was not recognized, but after the Ducks ultimately buried the puck, replay officials credited Niedermayer with his third tally.

Thornton began the comeback at 3:32 of the third, banging in a loose puck on the doorstep for the Kings, who had their three-game home winning streak snapped. Blake and Brown netted power-play goals 77 seconds apart late in the period to pull Los Angeles within one.

"What typically happens when you get up three goals, we started to relax a little bit and they didn't relax over there," Carlyle said. "They kept coming."

"I thought we started really taking it to them in the second period, and in the third period, obviously, they are going to sit back," Cloutier said. "But I thought we kept coming and we showed some good things. We should have a little bit of confidence going into tomorrow."

Lubomir Visnovsky recorded two assists, making him just the sixth defenseman in Kings history to notch 200 points with the club. The 30-year-old needs one goal to tie Hall of Famer Larry Murphy (52) for fifth place among blue-liners on the franchise list.