Dallas 5, Ducks 3.

Playing their second straight game without injured center Ryan Getzlaf, the Ducks’ offense didn’t suffer nearly as much as their defense in Dallas.

Loui Eriksson’s hat trick, including a short-handed goal that opened the scoring, sent the Ducks to their third loss in their last four games. Eriksson’s second goal was the back-breaker — draped by Sheldon Brookbank, he flung a one-handed shot weakly between the legs of Jonas Hiller that somehow eldued the Ducks’ goalie at 6:19 of the second period.

Exactly 30 seconds after that goal tied it at 2, Stephane Robidas’ point shot angled in off the stick of Ducks defenseman Nick Boynton, and the Stars would not trail again.

Saku Koivu scored twice, and Dan Sexton added a pair of assists, in a losing effort for the Ducks. Mike Brown scored his career-high fifth goal for the Ducks, who got 37 saves from Hiller.

Forward Todd Marchant left the game midway through the second period and did not return.

Calder assigned to AHL Toronto.

The Ducks have assigned left wing Kyle Calder to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Calder was placed on waivers on Dec. 28 and was not claimed by another NHL team.

The 30-year-old forward appeared in 14 contests with Anaheim this season, collecting two assists and eight penalty minutes. He made his 2009-10 season debut with the Ducks on Nov. 16 after signing a one-year contract with Anaheim on Oct. 28 and playing five games for ECHL affilaite Bakersfield. He scored 3-3=6 points with a +4 rating in five games with the Condors this season. Calder attended the Ducks’ 2009 Training Camp on a tryout basis in September.

Niedermayer: ‘It’s just an honor to be on the team.’

No, even Scott Niedermayer didn’t have any input into who would make the final roster for Team Canada.

He was, however, informed earlier, and by higher-up officials, that he would be captaining the Olympic team that will play February in his home province of British Columbia. The Ducks defenseman said Wednesday morning that he had a discussion with head coach Mike Babcock and executive director Steve Yzerman “over the last day” about the team.

Niedermayer did the listening.

“They want to pick a club that they think is going to have a good chance of winning, putting together a team of different style players, guys that do different jobs very well,” he said at Los Angeles International Airport, just before players and coaches boarded a flight for Dallas. “They both know what it does take to win, and they’re going to do a good job of that. There’s going to be some great players having great seasons that aren’t going to get the opportunity, which is unfortunate because there are a lot of good hockey players that come from Canada.”
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Ducks Olympians: Getzlaf, Perry, Niedermayer, Selanne, Koivu, Hiller, Sbisa

Seven Ducks were named to their respective Olympic teams Wednesday.

Defenseman Scott Niedermayer has been chosen captain, and will join forwards Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry as members of the Canadian Olympic team at the 2010 Vancouver Games in February.


Center Saku Koivu was named captain of Team Finland and will be joined by Ducks linemate Teemu Selanne in Vancouver.

Goalie Jonas Hiller and defenseman prospect Luca Sbisa will represent Team Switzerland.

Team USA will be announced Friday.

More details and quotes to follow.

Minutes from Tuesday’s meeting.

On a night when Ryan Getzlaf missed his first game of the season — along with injured forwards Teemu Selanne and Joffrey Lupul — Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle had his work cut out for him Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild. Divvying up the time on ice was a challenge, but the end result was a 4-2 victory.

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Bobby Ryan’s big night.

It’s almost hard to believe, given how well he has played in his brief NHL career, that Bobby Ryan merely matched a career high with his three-point game Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild. (Didn’t he sprinkle a four-point game in there somewhere? Maybe a five-pointer?)

Perhaps this is more evidence of Ryan’s consistency, something that’s impressed Saku Koivu in their three-plus weeks together as linemates.

“I heard about him a lot before I got here and how talented he is,” said Koivu, who was on the ice for all four Ducks goals Tuesday. “I get surprised with his consistency. He doesn’t take too many nights off. As an older guy, the one thing that I can do is push him a bit more and make sure there won’t be as many nights where you can’t find him.”
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Ducks 4, Minnesota 2.

The Ducks’ one-game homestand was a successful one.

Bobby Ryan played an assertive game with two goals and an assist, Dan Sexton scored his sixth goal of the season, and Todd Marchant added an empty-netter during a late 6-on-4 Wild power play. Jonas Hiller had a few gems among his 29 saves.

Teemu Selanne had the screw removed today from his broken left hand and is expected to return to the lineup in a week. That means he could be back for next Tuesday’s home game against the Detroit Red Wings — four weeks and five days after he sustained the injury in Dallas.

More details to come.

Another Ducks prospect promoted to AHL.

Defenseman John de Gray was loaned by the Bakersfield Condors to the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League today. De Gray had five goals and 11 points in his first 26 games in Bakersfield this season. The 6-foot-4, 209-pound defenseman was drafted in the third round, 83rd overall, in the 2006 draft by Anaheim.


He’ll be replaced on the Condors’ active roster by prospect Maxime Macenauer, who was activated from injured reserve. Macenauer had been having a good season — one goal and five points in seven games — for Bakersfield before going down with a knee injury Oct. 30. The 6-foot, 203-pound forward was drafted in the third round, 63rd overall, in 2007 by the Ducks.

Big day for Ducks prospects at WJCs.

We find the Canadian media’s obsession over the World Junior Championships to be oddly amusing. This was what the TSN home page looked like as of 11 p.m. Monday; note that Brandon McMillan’s hat trick for Team Canada got top billing over the NFL, the NHL, Suns-Lakers and certainly any American college football:


TSN - WJC.jpg

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