Flyers Fall To Ducks 5-3
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Ryan Getzlaf scored the go-ahead goal in the final minute of the first period and the Anaheim Ducks also got goals from Corey Perry, Patrick Maroon and Daniel Winnik in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.
Saku Koivu added an empty-net goal and Frederik Andersen made 27 saves, helping the Ducks improve their NHL-leading record to 40-11-5 and their home mark to 22-2-2. They have won 22 of their last 26 games.
Winnik gave the Ducks a 4-2 lead with a short-handed goal, the ninth allowed this season by the Flyers — tying Edmonton for the league lead.
Koivu broke up a pass in the Ducks' zone and went off on a 2-on-1 break with Winnik, who beat Steve Mason to the glove side with 7:34 remaining while teammate Hampus Lindholm was off for high-sticking Claude Giroux.
Andersen is 13-2-0 in his first 15 NHL starts, and hasn't allowed more than three goals in any of them. He has a 1.94 goals-against average, including a two-period relief stint in his NHL debut in Oct. 20, when he earned a 6-3 win in relief against Dallas by stopping all 24 shots he faced after Jonas Hiller left with a 3-1 deficit.
Vincent Lecavalier, Matt Read and Michael Raffl scored for the Flyers, and Mason stopped 23 shots, following his 33-save shutout against Detroit on Tuesday at Philadelphia. The Flyers are 3-6-2 in their last 11 games following a 7-1-0 stretch.
Philadelphia came in averaging a league-worst 15.9 penalty minutes, but it was the Ducks who couldn't stay out of the box during the first period as the Flyers cashed in on one of three power plays. Lecavalier beat Andersen through the pads with a 25-foot wrist shot from the right circle, tying it at 1 with 3 seconds left on Matt Beleskey's interference penalty.
Getzlaf regained the lead for Anaheim with his career-high 26th goal, parking himself at the edge of the crease and redirecting Lindholm's 50-foot slap shot past Mason with 36 seconds left in the period.
The other assist on the play went to Kyle Palmieri, who scored the tying and go-ahead goals against the Flyers in the third period of the Ducks' 3-2 victory on Oct. 29 at Philadelphia.
Perry made it 3-1 at 10:29 of the second, beating Mason to the glove side from the low slot after getting a cross-ice pass from Getzlaf. The Ducks are 9-0-1 this season when Getzlaf and Perry score goals in the same game, and 23-3-4 under those circumstances since Feb. 1, 2010.
Read scored his 14th goal with 14:12 remaining, after Mark Streit's sharp-angle shot from the left corner struck Andersen in the chest and bounced into the net off Read's right leg.
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