Ducks beat Boston, 4-3, but lose Selanne

L.A. Times Archives

Jan. 14, 2010 12 AM PT

As breaks of the game go, this was a bad one.

The Ducks’ Teemu Selanne, freshly returned from a broken hand, suffered a broken jaw when he was struck by a puck in the third period of the Ducks’ 4-3 victory over Boston on Wednesday at the Honda Center.

“Obviously, he will be unavailable to us for a number of days, weeks, here going forward,” Coach Randy Carlyle said. “We’ll have to see -- it will be surgically repaired tomorrow -- we’ll have to see what kind of time frame they’re going to give us.”

Selanne crumpled to the ice with 8 minutes 24 seconds to play after teammate Ryan Whitney’s point shot was deflected by the stick of Boston’s Miroslav Satan. After being tended to on the ice, Selanne skated off with blood dripping from his face.

Selanne, who is scheduled to play in his fifth Olympics for Finland in February, has 16 goals this season, third best on the Ducks, and had scored two in three games since returning after sitting out 17 games because of a broken left hand.

“The puck hit the bottom of somebody’s stick and hit the ice and bounced back up and hit him,” Carlyle said. “It’s kind of one of those things you very rarely would see. It’s unfortunate for Teemu and unfortunate for us.”

The news about Selanne tempered the celebration of the Ducks’ fifth consecutive victory, a season-best run that has brought them to four points behind the Kings for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.

The Ducks and Kings meet at Staples Center tonight. It has been a marked turnaround for both teams. For a brief time this season, the Kings were atop the Western Conference standings and the Ducks were at the bottom. Little more than a week ago, the Ducks were 12 points out of a tie for the final playoff spot.

“Obviously, them being our rival, we know we’re going to go into a tough building,” winger Bobby Ryan said. “We’re certainly looking forward to it. We need to close that gap before time runs out, really.”

The Ducks came from behind against Boston, much as they have come from behind in the standings.

Rookies Dan Sexton and Matt Beleskey contributed goals for the Ducks, who trailed, 3-2, through two periods. And they had to fend off the remainder of a power play at the start of the third and hold off a two-man advantage at the end of the game.

Ryan Getzlaf tied the score 1:59 into the final period. Defenseman Steve Eminger, who hadn’t scored a goal since April 11, scored the go-ahead goal at 8:07 of the third when he slid in from the right point to push the puck over past goalie Tuukka Rask when it was left in front on a rebound.

But the No. 1 star of the game was goalie Jonas Hiller, who has been so sharp during the Ducks’ streak.

“We’ve gained some confidence over the past couple of games. We’re not giving up,” Hiller said. “The team’s not falling apart. We’re finding a way.”

The Ducks survived the final minute down two men after Boston, already on a power play because of a cross-checking penalty against Kyle Chipchura, pulled its goalie for an extra attacker.

“At the end there, all you can do is fight back,” Hiller said. “They say you have to fight to be lucky, and that’s what I tried to do.”

[email protected]