Beauchemin makes one to remember

It isn’t often that Francois Beauchemin has scored a game-winning goal in overtime.

In fact, the Ducks’ third-year defenseman couldn’t recall Monday if he had scored an overtime goal in junior hockey or the minor leagues.

“That’s not something you really think about,” said Beauchemin, a day after his second goal of the season beat San Jose, 4-3. “But I’m glad that it happened.”

Beauchemin hasn’t had a lot of great moments. The clearest sign of his struggles defensively this season is the minus-10 rating, which is the worst on the Ducks.

Particularly galling was an eight-game stretch in early December in which he had a minus rating in six of them.

“He was minus-12 at one point and we had talked about trying to do less,” Coach Randy Carlyle said. “Get your confidence from the defensive aspect first before you start to stray out to the other side of it.”

Beauchemin acknowledged he’s had difficulty recognizing when he could jump up in on offense without getting beat when the opposing team got the puck and countered.

“I’ve been caught pinching in,” he said. “I just have to keep it simple.”

The 27-year-old has been better of late, particularly since he teamed with Scott Niedermayer again when the star returned from a sabbatical.

Once the NHL’s leader in ice time, Beauchemin is playing about six minutes less on average, as the Ducks have spread the time around.

“I think it works better for all of us,” Carlyle said. “It goes back to quality, not quantity.”

The Ducks have scored 14 goals in their last three games, marking their best offensive stretch since getting 18 in a four-game span in November.

“We’ve talked about it before,” Carlyle said. “We think the offense would find a way to make its mark when we stayed consistent with the little things and that hasn’t changed.”

Carlyle suggested that the output has been the result of players being in the right position for rebounds.

“We’ve watched a lot of hockey games and there’s not a lot of goals that have been scored one-on-one and you beat somebody inside or outside,” he said. “There’s not a flurry of those. A lot of those goals are being scored the same way, on second- and third-chance opportunities.”

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TONIGHT

vs. Dallas, 7, FSN West

Site -- Honda Center.

Radio -- 830.

Records -- Ducks 24-17-6, Stars 25-17-5.

Record vs. Stars -- 0-3-0.

Update -- Ducks winger George Parros was put on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 9 because of a bruised knee. The Ducks recalled Drew Miller from their American Hockey League affiliate in Portland, Maine.

Tickets -- (877) 945-3946.