Ducks match franchise mark with 10th straight win

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Anaheim Ducks couldn't score for the first three months of the season. Now they can't lose, and their red-hot power play is leading the way.
The Ducks tied a franchise record with their 10th straight victory, 5-1 against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Thursday.

Corey Perry assisted on goals by Jamie McGinn and Rickard Rakell on Anaheim's first two shots, 46 seconds apart in the first period. He scored his 28th goal and fifth in the past three games to cap a three-goal second period for the Ducks.
Anaheim (36-19-8) matched its franchise-record winning streak set Dec. 6-28, 2013. The Ducks are 11-0-1 in their past 12 games and 17-1-1 in their past 19, earning 35 of a possible 38 points during that span.
"From the beginning of the year we knew we had this in ourselves," defenseman Josh Manson said. "It was just a matter of time before we found our way. You never expect to go on a streak like this, but if we keep playing good hockey and not thinking about, it we can keep building."
Rakell, Perry and Manson all scored power-play goals for the Ducks, who have scored 17 times with the extra man during their winning streak and have at least one in each of the 10 victories.

Anaheim was 12-15-5 at the Christmas break. The Ducks are 24-4-2 since and will play against Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Saturday with first place in the Pacific Division on the line. Each team has 80 points, though the Kings have three more regulation/overtime victories.
"I'm proud of the group from where we've come to where we are now," said center Ryan Kesler, who assisted on goals by Manson and defenseman Cam Fowler in the second period. "We all believed in this room and we stuck together.
"We could have easily folded up the season and said we'll get them next year. But we didn't. We came back from a deep hole, hovered around .500 for a while and finally broke through."
Goalie Frederik Andersen made 27 saves in the Ducks' fifth consecutive road win. And the struggles of the first three months are a distant memory.
"We were not getting scored on a lot, but we couldn't score a goal whether we wanted to or not," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We had to learn how to say 'We might have to win every game 1-0,' and once we started enjoying that and think that was pretty good, we started scoring.
"Our power play [during the winning streak] has been ridiculous, and it makes scoring a little easier."
The Ducks scored five times Thursday without their captain, center Ryan Getzlaf, who was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. They hope he'll be able to play against the Kings.
Anthony Duclair scored his sixth goal in five games against Anaheim for the Coyotes (27-31-6), who have lost a season-high seven in a row and fell 10 points off the Western Conference playoff pace.
Rookie goalie Niklas Treutle allowed five goals on 16 shots in his first NHL start before being replaced by Louis Domingue after two periods.
"I'll take the responsibility," Arizona coach Dave Tippett. "We put a young player in a position he's not ready for. We had no choice. Louis has played 11 straight [games] and he looked tired on the road. That's where we are. We have to get Louis a break."

By the time Treutle made his first save, the Coyotes were down 2-0.
Treutle mishandled a dump-in, then shot the puck Perry's shin pads behind the net. McGinn picked up the loose puck and banked it off the scrambling goalie and into the net at 4:52. McGinn's 16th goal was his second in as many games since joining the Ducks in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.
"Definitely, it didn't start the way I wanted it to start," Treutle said.
Arizona's Jordan Martinook took a high-sticking penalty 18 seconds later, and the Ducks needed all of 28 seconds to capitalize. With all four penalty-killers caught on one side of the ice, Perry found Rakell all alone with a pass across the slot. Rakell scored his 17th of the season into a gaping net and the Ducks were flying.
"We wanted to jump on him early and it's tough for the kid when you let in your first two shots," Kesler said. "That definitely destroyed his confidence a little bit and we just kept on with it."

Fowler made it 3-0 at 1:33 of the second period with another power-play goal. He took a return pass from Sami Vatanen and used Perry's screen to beat Treutle for his fourth goal.
The Coyotes cut the lead to 3-1 at 9:02, with Max Domi setting up fellow rookie Duclair for a power-play one-timer. Duclair has six of his 17 goals against Anaheim, and Domi has seven points (three goals) against the Ducks.
But the Ducks quickly ended any hopes of an Arizona comeback. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Manson swept in a pretty backhand feed from Kesler at 13:59 to make it 4-1. Perry scored Anaheim's third power-play goal at 19:00.
The Ducks' winning streak includes a 4-2 victory against the Kings on Sunday at Honda Center. Andersen is eager for the rematch.
"We've come a long way. It's going to be a good game on Saturday," he said. "Those are the ones you look forward to. It's going to be interesting to see."