[54-20-8]
5
3
01/11/2014
FINAL
[37-30-15]
123T
ANA1315
30SHOTS31
30FACEOFFS35
19HITS23
17PIM11
1/3PP1/6
5GIVEAWAYS4
8TAKEAWAYS4
28BLOCKED SHOTS4
     

Ducks' 2nd-period surge gives Hiller 13th straight win

Sunday, 01.12.2014 / 1:14 AM

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Anaheim Ducks are lethal against any opponent right now. The struggling Phoenix Coyotes were no match Saturday.

Sami Vatanen, Dustin Penner and Ryan Getzlaf scored during a 5:11 span of the second period, and the red-hot Ducks beat the Coyotes 5-3 for their 16th win in their past 17 games.

Hampus Lindholm scored in the first and third periods for Anaheim, which got three assists from Mathieu Perreault and two from Corey Perry to complete a five-game sweep of the Coyotes this season.

The Ducks (34-8-5) are the seventh team to win 16 or more games in a 17-game span, and the first since the 2009-10 Washington Capitals. They have scored at least four goals in a franchise-record six straight games (29 total goals) and have 73 points, the most in the NHL.

Jonas Hiller made 28 saves and is 22-4-4 after his 13th straight win, matching the Detroit Red Wings' Chris Osgood for the longest winning streak by a goalie since 1995-96.

"It's a great thing, but I'm more excited about winning. The personal things are the cherry on the cake," Hiller said. " We talked about wanting to win the whole series, every game. We might face [Phoenix] in the playoffs, and we want to make sure we have the confidence against them."

After scoring his 23rd goal, Getzlaf left the game late in the second period after taking a shot of his right foot. Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said X-rays were negative, adding Getzlaf was held out as a precaution.

"By the time he got back from X-rays … we were a third of the way through the period," Boudreau said. "We figured it was better that he ice it and get ready for tomorrow (when the Ducks host the Red Wings). I'm sure if it was a different situation, he would have gone in."

Coyotes goalie Thomas Greiss allowed four goals on 23 shots. Coach Dave Tippett pulled Greiss in favor of Mike Smith after Getzlaf capped the three-goal surge.

The Coyotes ended a disappointing 2-4-0 homestand and have gone 3-7-2 in their past 12 games at Jobing.com Arena. They are 7-10-6 after a 14-4-4 start.

"Right now, we're not very good, and we haven't been very good for a while," Phoenix captain Shane Doan said. "We've been fooling ourselves with finding ways to come back and get points."

Lauri Korpikoski, Martin Hanzal and Mike Ribeiro scored for Phoenix. Hanzal added an assist and Radim Vrbata tied a career high with three assists.

"I turned one over and they scored after it. I've been terrible, so I take a lot of the blame for that," said Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle, who was minus-3 for the second straight game. "I'm not helping my team win. I've got to get back to doing things right."

Korpikoski gave the Coyotes an early 1-0 lead with his third goal in four games, but the Ducks rallied to win for the 16th time in 21 games win which they have allowed the first goal.

Greiss was down and out after a save on Nick Bonino when Lindholm scooped up the rebound and slid it between two defenders at 12:27 of the first period. Lindholm's fourth goal of the season snapped Griess' shutout streak at 109:59, dating to Dec. 28 when he allowed Saku Koivu's winning goal in overtime at Anaheim.

Three of Anaheim's goals came from defensemen. After going without a goal in the first 14 games this season, the Ducks' defense has 21 in 33 games.

"We had chances early in the year, we just didn't get them in," Lindholm said after his first career two-goal game. "We kept shooting the puck and believing in ourselves, and now it's starting to fall in."

The second period was all Ducks, and the Phoenix collapse started with a soft goal.

Perreault fanned on a shot attempt between the circles, but the puck slid to the point and Vatanen ripped a one-timer. Greiss saw the shot all the way, but the puck squeezed between his pads and trickled over the goal line at 5:44.

"Tough goal," Tippett said. "That's where you'd like to think that you can overcome those things. A cohesive group would overcome that thing, a non-cohesive group doesn't. I think sometimes you get in funks where you're kind of out of sorts. We're out of sorts right now."

Penner made it 3-1 at 9:11 with a blast from the left circle, one-timing a Perry feed from behind the net over Greiss' blocker. Getzlaf pushed the lead to 4-1 at 10:55, faking Greiss to the ice before switching to the backhand to fill an empty net.

Lindholm scored his second goal on the power play at 6:10 of the third, beating Smith to make it 5-1. Hanzal countered with a 5-on-3 goal at 11:16 for Phoenix, and Ribeiro scored on the power play with 1:50 left.

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