ANAHEIM—The Ducks ran away with the game along with stellar defense in the third to score four unanswered leading to a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders at the Honda Center Monday night. Corey Perry scored back to back goals in route to their third consecutive win.
The game got off to a ‘rocky’ start with New York’s Matt Martin scraping it out with Anaheim forward Tim Jackman that sent both off the ice with fight majors. The Ducks took the fight that Martin seemed to have an edge on difficult losing composure and giving the Isles the first of two power plays. John Tavares connected during the man advantage on a pass play near the blue line where Tavares skated up center to wrist the shot for his twelfth. It was just the third time New York scored in 11 opportunities on the power play. Their second chance didn’t fare well which led to the Ducks coming back with a tighter defense.
Thirty-two seconds after the expiration of New York’s second PP, Saku Koivu scored his third of the season on a backhander that beat out Isles goaltender Anders Nilsson. Teammate Daniel Winnik picked up his first of three assists on the night on the Koivu goal to tie the game. The Islanders outshotAnaheim 13-7, but the tide would change against them.
Thomas Vanek was the last Isles player to score off the faceoff where Tavares won the puck and found Vanek behind the faceoff circle to score his ninth and give Tavares a team leading 22nd assist. From the midway point of the game and beyond, it was all Anaheim as they tied the lead for the second time on Andrew Cogliano’s shot from behind Nilsson that was set up with Winnik sending the pass to the Anaheim center near the corner of the net for his ninth on the year.
Both teams shot twelve times on net, but the Ducks did better with shots ending up behind the goal line with Cam Fowler scoring shorthanded for his third. Perry notched his first of the night with two seconds left on the clock with a short wrister on the glove side for his 19th of the season.
The Islanders took their frustrations out in the third period with Andrew MacDonald tripping Koivu who would not see the end of their anger. Perry scored his second and the team’s fourth on a tip in from Nick Bonino’s drive from an angle that put the game out of reach. Matt Carkner targeted Koivu deep in the period and was called for slashing while also receiving a game misconduct. Their problems reflected badly on their goaltender that ended the night with his second straight loss making 26 saves. Hiller won his 11th with 35 saves and a .946 save percentage. The Ducks host MinnesotaWednesday night, hoping to add two points to their growing lead in the Pacific Division.
