Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at Vancouver Canucks


VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Paul Kariya atoned for an earlier mistake by scoring a power-play goal midway through the second period and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim held on for their third straight win, 3-2 Sunday over the Vancouver Canucks.

Brian Bellows and Teemu Selanne had the other goals for the Ducks, who beat Vancouver for just the third time in their last 13 meetings.

"The players knew how bad we'd been playing. We talked briefly about getting back to Mighty Ducks' hockey, whatever that is," said Anaheim coach Ron Wilson. "We worked on our power play a lot and our power play's really got us going the last couple of games.

"We feel if we can get a power-play goal in every game, we have a good chance to win."

A bad pass by Kariya was intercepted at the Canucks' blue line by Vancouver defenseman Leif Rohlin, who led Mike Sillinger on on a shorthanded breakaway. Sillinger put a short wrist shot over goaltender Guy Hebert's left shoulder for his 10th goal of the season, lifting the Canucks into a 2-2 tie with 11:05 to go in the second period.

On the same power play, Anaheim's Dave Karpa fired a shot from the right point that was stopped by goalie Kirk McLean. Steve Rucchin dug out the rebound and fed Kariya, who lifted a shot past McLean from the bottom of the right faceoff circle. It was the 16th goal of the season for Kariya, who has 13 points in his last seven games.

Hebert made 21 saves, but nearly lost the lead late in the third period. Scott Walker's shot from the top of the slot went just wide of the net, but Martin Gelinas and Sillinger had pokes at the rebound with 2:38 remaining and a video replay was needed to make sure the puck did not cross the goal line.

"It's an easier game to play between the pipes when guys are diving to block shots, putting guys up against the wall," Hebert said. "We had a lot of shots on the other end and many were from far out, but still, we kept them to the outside, too.

"That's the way we need to play on the road. It's nice as a goaltender to watch it happen in front of you."

The Ducks scored first for the ninth straight game. With Vancouver's Esa Tikkanen in the penalty box for interference, Brian Bellows' centering pass from the right circle deflected off the skate of Canucks defenseman Chris Joseph and through McLean's pads.

Vancouver tied it 1:44 into the second period on Mark Wotton's third goal, but Selanne put Anaheim back in front at 6:51.

He grabbed a loose puck at the right circle and skated toward the net before putting a short wrister through McLean's pads. Selanne has scored a goal in a team-record five straight games.

McLean finished with 38 saves, but had his personal four-game winning streak broken.



Jon's 3 stars:

1. Paul Kariya
2. Teemu Selanne
3. Kirk McLean



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