Voros to miss 3-4 weeks; Koivu out with flu.

The Ducks announced that left wing Aaron Voros won’t have surgery to repair the broken orbital bone that he suffered on Wednesday in a fight with Vancouver’s Kevin Bieksa, but the team will be without Voros’ services for the next 3-4 weeks.

Meanwhile, Saku Koivu (flu) and Teemu Selanne (groin) will not skate against the Minnesota Wild.

Early in the first period, here are the Ducks’ top three lines:

Bobby Ryan – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry
Brandon McMillan – Todd Marchant – Dan Sexton
Jason Blake – Nick Bonino – Joffrey Lupul

Marchant and Perry are both wearing the alternate captain’s “A”s that normally belong to Koivu and Selanne.

Ducks 3, Edmonton 2, shootout.

Cam Fowler scored his second game-winning goal of the season in the 10th shootout round, ending the Ducks’ losing streak with one shot in Edmonton.

Joffrey Lupul scored on the Ducks’ first shootout attempt and Taylor Hall answered in the third round, before Jonas Hiller and Nikolai Khabibulin put on a clinic to extend the shootout into the 10th round. That’s when Fowler got the call. On his first NHL shootout attempt, the 19-year-old defenseman fired a hard shot into the upper-right corner to end the game.

“I obviously don’t have the best hands out on the ice. I just wanted to put a good shot on net and give myself the opportunity to score. I think my best opportunity was just to shoot the puck.”

Returning from a two-game layoff while he rested a sore groin, Teemu Selanne had a goal and an assist. He dished to linemate Saku Koivu in the second period – the Ducks’ first goal in their last seven periods – and backhanded a rebound past Khabibulin to give Anaheim a 2-0 lead early in the third.

But the Ducks ran out of gas, a dangerous proposition against the young and fast Oilers. Goals by Ryan Jones and former Duck Dustin Penner in the game’s final 10 minutes tied the game at 2. Anaheim couldn’t take advantage of a power-play in the final three minutes.

Hiller made 34 saves and Khabibulin made 30 for the Oilers, who had won five straight.

Edmonton 4, Ducks 2.

Ales Hemsky’s breakaway goal with 6:31 left in the third period lifted the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-2 win at Honda Center and sent the Ducks to their fifth straight loss.

The Ducks outshot the Oilers 19-4 in the first period, but couldn’t put a goal past Devan Dubnyk. The onslaught continued into the second period, but goals by Sam Gagner and Taylor Hall 1:41 apart gave Edmonton a 2-0 lead.

Needing a break, the Ducks caught one when Oilers defenseman Theo Peckham was mistakenly penalized for a delay of game – skating in his own end, Peckham flipped the puck through a camera hole and into the stands. Bobby Ryan converted the ensuing power play, and Saku Koivu scored 22 seconds later, to tie the game at 2.

Jonas Hiller stopped 22 of 25. Dubnyk finished with 38 saves as Edmonton broke a streak of six games without a regulation win.

Andy Sutton was activated from injured reserve prior to the game and played 18:30 on a pairing with Cam Fowler.

The Oilers’ final goal came when Corey Perry’s centering pass from behind the Edmonton net missed everyone and traveled the length of the ice, landing in the Ducks’ empty net with 16 seconds left in the game.

Columbus 4, Ducks 3.

When is 50 shots not enough?

Apparently Friday, when Columbus goaltender Steve Mason stymied the Ducks’ offensive onslaught in a 4-3 Blue Jackets win — a game that featured more near-misses than a pistol in the hand of a James Bond villain.

The Ducks saved their best for a third period in which they outshot Columbus 25-3 — reminiscent of Wednesday’s 2-1 loss in Minnesota that saw the Ducks outshoot the Wild 16-2 in the third. Like Niklas Backstrom, Mason was living large in the final period, allowing only a Corey Perry goal at 7:22 to bring the Ducks within 4-3.

Bobby Ryan — on his first career short-handed goal — and Saku Koivu also scored for the Ducks, who have now lost four straight on the heels of a six-game winning streak. Jonas Hiller stopped 25 shots, allowing goals to Rick Nash, Chris Clark, Jakub Voracek and Steve Commodore.

More details in tomorrow’s editions. Here are a few more notes:

Continue reading “Columbus 4, Ducks 3.” »

Ducks 4, Dallas 2.

After stumbling to one of their worst starts to a season in recent memory, the Ducks have emerged to win six straight.

One reason for the quick turnaround has to be the emergence of secondary scoring.

Second-line center Saku Koivu extended his point streak to a season-high five games with the game’s first goal, on a redirect of a centering feed by Teemu Selanne. Bobby Ryan scored the Ducks’ final two goals to give him seven on the season. Ryan Getzlaf’s second-period goal — off a beautiful no-look pass from Corey Perry — was his seventh this year. All four players — Ryan, Getzlaf, Koivu and Selanne — are all on pace to score more than 30 goals this season.

Continue reading “Ducks 4, Dallas 2.” »

Ducks 1, New York Islanders 0.

It was Military Appreciation Night at Honda Center on Wednesday.

Other than Saku Koivu’s third-period goal, Curtis McElhinney’s 27-save shutout, and Luca Sbisa’s return to the NHL, there wasn’t much else to appreciate in the Ducks’ fifth straight win.

Continue reading “Ducks 1, New York Islanders 0.” »

Ducks 3, San Jose 2, OT.

Saku Koivu’s faceoff win led to a Lubomir Visnovsky goal with 32.6 seconds left in overtime, lifting the Ducks to their fourth straight win.

Jason Blake and Corey Perry also scored for the Ducks, who were outshot 41-20 and leaned on a 39-save effort from Jonas HIller.

Torrey Mitchell scored 1:42 into the opening period to draw first blood. With the Sharks down 2-1, Devin Setoguchi tied the game on a one-timer seconds after a Toni Lydman penalty expired as two Ducks (Corey Perry and Andreas Lilja) were skating without their sticks.

Antero Niittymaki made 18 saves for the Sharks, who were playing without Joe Thornton while their captain served the final game of a two-game suspension.

Shameless plug: If you’re by a radio, tune in to “Duck Calls” With Josh Brewster on AM-830 – I’ll be coming on the show after Ducks defenseman Andy Sutton, around 11 p.m.

St. Louis 5, Ducks 1.

There’s an almost endless repository of statistics that illustrate how bad the Ducks have played in their first three regular-season games. They have been outscored 13-2 and outshot 145-72. Their 43.0 faceoff percentage ranks 29th in the NHL, their 48.3 penalty minutes per game 30th.

Most importantly, a team that pledged to avoid another typical early-season swoon is off to an 0-3 start. If there is a hockey-statistical equivalent of the word acrid, just take your pick.

The good news – and there was some good news after Monday’s 5-1 loss in St. Louis – is that the Ducks got to come home in advance of Wednesday’s home opener against the Vancouver Canucks. By then they will probably have added a veteran to help on defense, Andreas Lilja, and have the potential for an opening-night atmosphere that tends to make visiting teams uncomfortable – the same atmosphere the Ducks faced Friday and Saturday in Detroit and Nashville, respectively.
Continue reading “St. Louis 5, Ducks 1.” »