ANAHEIM – So how much better will the Anaheim Ducks be once they get fully rested and get their special teams going?
The Ducks will have to wade through the busiest portion of their schedule to answer the first part, but the second part was glimpsed Wednesday night, when Anaheim earned a 5-2 win against the Phoenix Coyotes at Honda Center.
Coming off an eight-game road trip with the NHL's 30th-ranked power play, Anaheim found its legs and its special teams with power-play goals from Ryan Getzlaf and Cam Fowler. Rookie defenseman Hampus Lindholm added his first NHL goal and an assist against a Coyotes team that had its five-game winning streak snapped.
Phoenix also lost right wing and leading scorer Radim Vrbata to a lower-body injury. Vrbata, took five shifts in the second period and did not return.
Anaheim got the go-ahead goal with 1.1 seconds remaining in the second period on an impressive puck-possession sequence during a delayed penalty. The Ducks worked it around to Lindholm up top, and he let go with a slap shot that got a piece of Corey Perry's stick for a 3-2 lead.
Fowler scored on a knuckleball slap shot in the third period for an insurance goal to give the Ducks their sixth power-play goal of the season, or as many as Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. Andrew Cogliano scored an empty-netter while he hobbled to the bench.
The Ducks somehow went 5-2-1 on that road trip despite their power play (and 28th-ranked penalty-killing unit), but remain tops in the League with 27 points.
They needed a 5-on-3 goal to give their power play a kick in the rear. Getzlaf's slap shot deflected off Martin Hanzal's stick and found the inside of the left post.
After a quiet opening 10 minutes, the Ducks found their legs and woke up the crowd on a pretty finish of a rush by Lindholm.
It started when Shane Doan whiffed on a neutral zone pass and Devante Smith-Pelly grabbed the puck and got it to Mathieu Perrault, who found a pinching Lindholm for a snap shot that bounced in off Mike Smith's left side to tie it, 1-1.
The Coyotes got the first goal on Doan's breakaway as the Ducks got caught on a line change. Michael Stone scored in the second period when he sent a shot-pass to David Moss and one-timed the return feed.
Phoenix scratched defenseman Derek Morris with an upper-body injury suffered during a 3-2 shootout victory against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
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