Blue Jackets bounce back from blowout loss to Kings, top Ducks 5-2
By APWednesday, March 10, 2010
Garon, Blue Jackets beat Ducks 5-2
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jakub Voracek scored during Columbus’ first power play and set up another second-period goal by Fedor Tyutin to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.
Mathieu Garon made 36 saves one night after relieving Steve Mason, who gave up four goals on 12 shots against Los Angeles in the first period of a 6-0 loss.
Derek Dorsett scored his fourth goal of an injury-plagued season and the Blue Jackets got power-play goals from Antoine Vermette and Derick Brassard in the final 1:58. Columbus bounced back from Monday’s effort in which they recorded only 11 shots.
Columbus snapped a five-game losing streak despite the absence of leading scorer Rick Nash (lower body), who was scratched for the first time this season. Fellow forward Kristian Huselius sat out his second straight game because of a hand injury.
The Ducks, coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to Montreal, have dropped three straight at home following a franchise-record, 11-game home winning streak there. They are seven points out of a playoff spot with 16 games left.
Anaheim, which hasn’t missed the postseason since 2004, got goals from Lubomir Visnovsky and Ryan Getzlaf in the final 10:49 of the third period after falling behind 3-0.
Ducks forward Saku Koivu took a hooking penalty with 2:31 remaining, and Vermette scored 33 seconds later. Scott Niedermayer then was sent off for hooking with 22 seconds left, and Brassard cashed in 5 seconds later.
Teemu Selanne, the Ducks’ career leader in every major offensive category, was scratched because of flulike symptoms.
The Ducks, who came in with an NHL-best 26.5 power-play success rate in home games, were a season-worst 0 for 7 for the second time in three games. This effort came against a penalty-killing unit that allowed at least one power-play goal in five consecutive games.
Dorsett, who missed 16 games after breaking his hand in a fight with Anaheim’s Mike Brown the last time the teams met on Dec. 12 at Columbus, opened the scoring at 8:55 of the first period during a goalmouth scramble. He immediately got into another fight with rookie Matt Beleskey while his teammates celebrated the goal.
The Blue Jackets, outshot by a combined 79-33 margin by the Kings and San Jose Sharks during this trip, extended their lead to 2-0 at 8:14 of the second on Voracek’s 10th goal. It came during a power play.
Tyutin scored less than 5 minutes later, following up his own shot from the top of the left circle and beating goalie Jonas Hiller from a sharp angle. Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle then pulled Hiller and put in Curtis McElhinney, who stopped seven of nine shots in his Ducks debut after being acquired from Calgary on March 3.
NOTES: Selanne has missed 26 games this season. … Hiller made 35 saves on Dec. 12 in his only other start against the Blue Jackets. … Columbus recalled C Derek MacKenzie and LW Maksim Mayorov from Syracuse of the AHL because of the injuries to Nash and Huselius. MacKenzie left the game in the first period with an undisclosed lower body injury after playing six shifts.
Tags: Anaheim, Athlete Health, Athlete Injuries, California, Men's Hockey, North America, Professional Hockey, United States