Ducks in full flight as they ready for trip
The old man, the kid goalie and nearly everyone in between led the Ducks from behind to their club-record-tying seventh consecutive victory Sunday — important momentum, they believe, with an eight-game, 15-day trip now starting.
“You want to go on the road feeling good about yourselves,†Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau said after his team swept a five-game homestand for the first time with a 6-3 victory over the Dallas Stars at Honda Center.
“They knew that, understand it and that’s one of the reasons the good leadership came.â€
After 43-year-old Teemu Selanne scored a first-period goal that extended his goal streak to three games — the first player his age to do that since Gordie Howe at age 51 in 1979 — the Ducks (7-1-0) gave up three goals in the period.
So when the second started, Boudreau replaced starting goalie Jonas Hiller with rookie Frederik Andersen, who was summoned from minor league Norfolk (Va.) on Friday because of goalie Viktor Fasth’s lower-body injury.
“I know Jonas well enough to know he wasn’t sharp,†Boudreau said. “I thought it was a good time to give Freddie a chance to play. ... Sometimes you get lucky.â€
Andersen stopped all 24 shots he faced as the Ducks mounted a rally against Dallas’ Jack Campbell, who was also making his NHL debut.
“Unexpected, but things settled down a bit and the momentum shifted,†Andersen, 24, said. “As the backup, you have to turn on the switch pretty quick. I wasn’t really nervous, but it felt nice to get a first shot. Felt settled, getting my feet wet.â€
The last time both goalies made their NHL debuts on the same night happened Oct. 12, 2005, when Montreal’s Yann Danis beat Atlanta’s Michael Garnett.
Campbell and the Stars (3-5-0) were subjected to record-setting pressure as the Ducks broke their all-time second-period high with 23 shots on goal to take a 4-3 lead.
The first shot was a Corey Perry goal, 54 seconds into the period, on captain Ryan Getzlaf’s second assist.
Perry tied the score on the Ducks’ second power-play goal of the game, with 8 minutes 12 seconds remaining in the period, redirecting a shot by defenseman Cam Fowler 29 seconds after Dallas’ Shawn Horcoff was called for hooking.
The Ducks started the night 0 for 18 on the power play at home and an NHL-worst one for 27 overall before Selanne struck with the man-advantage.
Selanne has scored against 148 goalies.
“We needed our power play and we came through and that’s a nice feeling,†said Getzlaf, who had three assists and scored a third-period goal.
The Ducks took a 4-3 lead on Emerson Etem’s first career short-handed goal, with 1:05 left in the second.
The Ducks last had seven straight wins in 1999.
In the second period, Ducks wing Dustin Penner was helped off the ice by Getzlaf, Perry and trainer Joe Huff after being knocked unconscious briefly by a helmet-to-helmet hit from Dallas’ Ryan Garbutt, who could face NHL discipline Monday for the incident despite no penalty being called.
Penner walked on wobbly legs to the dressing room and underwent a battery of tests that continued after the game with the team doctor, Craig Milhouse.
As the Ducks were winning, Penner asked to see Garbutt’s hit on him and viewed it several times — as NHL officials are expected to do to establish if Garbutt was targeting Penner’s head and whether he left his feet at impact.
Twitter: @latimespugmire
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