SURGING DUCKS CRUSH AVS

The Anaheim Ducks earned a little breathing room in the tight Western Conference playoff race on Wednesday night as they scored six unanswered goals before coasting home to a 7-2 rout of the host Colorado Avalanche.  It was the Ducks’ fifth straight win and left them in 7^th place in the conference, leading 8^th place Edmonton by one point and 9^th place Nashville and Minnesota by two points. 

Erik Christensen got the offensive barrage started for Anahiem with his unassisted goal less than three minutes into the game.  The Ducks wouldn’t score again until the 15:21 mark when Teemu Selanne lit the lamp assisted by James Wisniewski and Drew Miller to make it 2-0.  From that point on, it was all Anahiem as Corey Perry would score the next two goals—his tally in the final minute of the first period was assisted by Erik Christensen and Andrew Ebbett, while his power play goal just two minutes into the second period was assisted by Ebbett and James Wisniewski.  Ebbett himself would do the honors on the power play at the 4:55 mark assisted by Wisniewski and Ryan Whitney.  Rob Niedermayer made it 6-0 with his goal at Petteri Nokelainen. 

Colorado finally got on the board when Milan Hejduk scored at 11:31 assisted by John-Michael Liles and Wojtek Wolski, but Anahiem would get it right back less than two minutes later on Petteri Nokelainen’s unassisted score.  Cody McLeod would add a meaningless goal for Colorado in the third, which did little to mitigate the embarrassment of a 7-2 home ice loss.  After the game, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said that a quick start is essential on enemy ice:

"It's always important when you're on the road to get yourself into the game right away. We were able to do that tonight."

James Wisniewski, who had three assists on the evening, said that his team’s timing couldn’t be better:

"It's a perfect time to be going on a streak like this because you want to be going into the playoffs at your peak.”

Avs coach Tony Granato struggled to explain the lopsided loss in a game where his team held a 36-29 shots on goal advantage:

"I can tell it's embarrassing because we lost. We've had two games where we had goals going in our net that shouldn't have gone in. That normally don't go in. There's really not a whole lot more I can say about the game."

Colorado is mired in last place in the Western Conference and is playing out the string at this point.  They’ll host Vancouver on Friday before traveling to the Honda Center for a quick rematch against the Ducks.  They’ll return home on Wednesday to face the Phoenix Coyotes.  Anaheim will host Edmonton on Friday before their return date with the Avs on Sunday.  They’ll then head to Canada’s ‘Oil City’ on Tuesday for a quick rematch against the Oilers.