Ducks Work Fast in 6-3 Win

For the last three weeks, the Mighty Ducks have been swimming in a sea of possible playoff teams while managing to stay afloat along the way.

With a six-day break for the Christmas holiday looming, the Ducks finally found a team whose ship abandoned long ago and achieved a record-setting first period in a 6-3 victory over the hapless St. Louis Blues Wednesday night at the Arrowhead Pond.

Andy McDonald had two goals and an assist as the Ducks scored four goals in the first 11:07 to set a club record for the fastest four at the start of a game, surpassing the previous mark of four in the first 13:49 against Montreal on March 21, 1998.

As goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere collected his 100th career win, the Ducks pulled ahead of Colorado into eighth place in the Western Conference.

“We wanted to go off on a good note and win the last game so we could come back after Christmas with some momentum,� McDonald said.

The Ducks had two goals at even strength, one on the power play and one while short-handed in knocking out Blues goaltender Jason Bacashihua in his third NHL start.

Teemu Selanne scored his team-leading 18th on their first shot when he punched in a cross-ice feed from Ruslan Salei. The Ducks allowed a tying goal by Dean McAmmond before they seemed to realize they were playing the worst team in the NHL.

McDonald ended an eight-game streak without a goal when he put in a rebound past Bacashihua. Since the threesome of Selanne, McDonald and Petr Sykora was put together seven games ago, they’ve accounted for 22 points, including six against the Blues.

“When things weren’t going well early on, there was a lot of line shuffling going on,� McDonald said. “Right now, we’ve kind of identified some lines and having the time to play together has really helped. Chemistry is a huge part of it.�

The Ducks followed up with a short-handed goal courtesy of Samuel Pahlsson as he finished a two-on-one break with Jonathan Hedstrom to finish off Bacashihua.

St. Louis Coach Mike Kitchen summoned another unproven goalie in Reinhard Divis. Divis was greeted with an unassisted goal by Tyler Wright.

The last time the Ducks scored four goals in the first period was Feb. 5, 1999 in a 5-3 win at Tampa Bay.

“It’s a direct reflection of playing a safer game and being more consistent,� Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “Our execution level has become more consistent too. We’re better at getting through the neutral ice and getting an opportunity to play more of the game in the other zone.�