Nick Bonino scores 1st NHL goal, Corey Perry gets 2 points in Ducks’ 3-1 win over Dallas

Bonino gets 1st NHL goal in Ducks’ win over Stars

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Nick Bonino scored his first NHL goal with an assist from 600-goal scorer Teemu Selanne, and Curtis McElhinney made 30 saves in the Anaheim Ducks’ 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night.

Corey Perry and Kyle Chipchura scored 49 seconds apart in the second period as the Ducks won for the sixth time in eight games to move even with Dallas and Minnesota in 11th place in the Western Conference standings. All three clubs trail Colorado by nine points for the final playoff spot.

Loui Eriksson scored his 28th goal and Kari Lehtonen stopped 43 shots for the Stars, who lost two of three in California to end a four-game road trip. High-scoring center Mike Ribeiro was scratched for missing a team meeting, coach Marc Crawford said.

The Ducks honored Selanne before the game for becoming the 18th player to score 600 NHL goals, hitting the milestone last week in a home game against Colorado. Jari Kurri, Selanne’s boyhood idol and former Ducks teammate, flew in from Finland to join the celebration with Selanne’s family and Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli.

“I never expected I could play this long and achieve this kind of milestone,” Selanne said. “I’m so glad it happened here in front of my family and these fans.”

Selanne is leaning toward retirement after the season, but Anaheim’s fans showered him with chants of “One more year! One more year!”

The 39-year-old Finnish Flash then gave a performance that underlined why he might want to stick around, getting eight shots as the Ducks’ most active forward. He came close to scoring his 601st goal — which would match Kurri’s career total — in the final minutes, but just missed getting the puck on the empty net.

McElhinney held the Stars scoreless until late in the second period of his second straight start in place of Jonas Hiller, who was held out for precautionary reasons after having back spasms during warmups. McElhinney had barely played in his first few weeks since arriving in a trade with Calgary early this month.

Center Ryan Getzlaf also missed his second straight game with a sore left ankle, but Perry had a goal and an assist for his fourth multipoint effort in seven games.

After a scoreless first period, Bonino batted home a rebound of Selanne’s shot from the slot for his first goal in just his second NHL game.

Bonino won an NCAA title at Boston University last year, a few weeks after Anaheim acquired his rights from San Jose in a deal for Travis Moen and defenseman Kent Huskins. After another season with the Terriers, he signed an entry-level contract with the Ducks on March 21 and immediately joined the club for last Friday’s win at Edmonton.

Perry scored his 27th goal a few minutes later, and Chipchura added his fifth when Dallas’ defense allowed him to hack at Lubomir Visnovsky’s rebound with little opposition.

Eriksson finally got Dallas on the board on a slick behind-the-net pass from Brad Richards 1:18 later, but Anaheim dominated puck possession for the rest of the night, getting its 40th shot early in the third period.

NOTES: Kurri wore his Mighty Ducks jersey from the 1996-97 season while dropping the ceremonial first puck between Selanne and Dallas’ Jere Lehtinen. … Eriksson has five goals and five assists against Anaheim this season. … McElhinney’s victory was the seventh of his brief NHL career.