ANAHEIM, Calif. – Petr Sykora, Teemu Selanne and Andy McDonald scored first-period goals and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 5-3 on Sunday.
After building the early 3-0 lead, the Ducks got the eventual deciding score on rookie Jonathan Hedstrom’s first NHL goal with 15:19 left. Rob Niedermayer added a power-play goal on an assist from his brother, Scott, with 34 seconds remaining.
Geoff Sanderson’s power-play goal for Phoenix with 5:39 remaining narrowed the gap to 4-3, but the Ducks and goaltender Ilja Bryzgalov, filling in for the injured Jean-Sebastien Giguere, made the lead stand up.
Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky pulled goalie Curtis Joseph after the first period, and David LeNeveu limited Anaheim to Hedstrom’s goal over the final two periods.
Hedstrom gave the Ducks a 4-2 lead while Anaheim was short-handed. The Ducks won a faceoff deep in the Phoenix end, and LeNeveu stopped consecutive shots by Keith Carney and Samuel Pahlsson. The puck dribbled into the crease and Hedstrom poked it in.
Mike Leclerc had pulled the Coyotes within 3-2 against his former team by scoring his third goal of the season – and second of the game – with four seconds remaining in the second period.
He scored Phoenix’s first goal six minutes earlier, 11 seconds into a power play.
McDonald gave Anaheim a three-goal pad by notching a power-play tally with one second remaining in the period. He zipped down the slot, took a centering pass from Joffrey Lupul and banged the puck past Joseph.
Sykora got things started for the Ducks 9:56 in when he wristed a shot toward the left post as Joseph sprawled the other way.
After Sykora scored his second goal of the season, Selanne made it 2-0 at 17:29 when he knocked in a rebound of a shot by Ryan Getzlaf for his fifth goal.
Notes: Joseph is still one win short of becoming the ninth NHL goalie with 400 wins. … The Ducks returned home after dropping three straight on the road. It was Anaheim’s second win in seven games. … Anaheim LW Todd Fedoruk was in Philadelphia to attend the funeral of his father-in-law. He’s expected to be back for Tuesday night’s game against Los Angeles. … Ducks C Sergei Fedorov sat out his fifth consecutive game with a groin injury. … Getzlaf had two assists.
AP-ES-10-23-05 1850EDT
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