Perfect ending to trip for the Ducks

Things weren’t going well for the Ducks, so they hit the road to find themselves.

Teemu Selanne scored a power-play goal with 3:55 left, helping the Ducks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2, on Monday night. The victory capped a string of four straight road wins in seven nights, three of them one-goal games.

“I’m very happy about the road trip,” Selanne said. “Obviously when you win four in a row you know you’ve done something good. This wasn’t pretty tonight. We were grinding pretty much the whole game. But I always think the last game of a road trip is always the toughest one because the food is in the plane and you’re about ready to go home.”

Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf each had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who for only the second time in franchise history swept a trip of four games or longer. After an 0-4-0 start, the Ducks have won five of their last six.

“There was a lot at stake for our hockey club to get back to .500,” Coach Randy Carlyle said after his team evened its record at 5-5-0. “After a rough start, now we’re at .500… . We’re just going to savor this for about 10 minutes.”

Jean-Sebastian Giguere had 30 saves for the Ducks.

“We’ve got too much talent and character in this dressing room,” Giguere said. “Guys fought hard to get their game back together.”

Jiri Novotny and Derrick Brassard gave the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead through two periods before 10,494, the smallest NHL crowd ever at Nationwide Arena.

“For us to win we had to play 60 minutes, full out, of great hockey and we played 50 minutes,” Columbus Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “It’s not good enough – you’ve got to win games 2-1.”

The Ducks pulled even at the 9:19 mark of the third when Steve Montador’s shot from the right point was redirected by Perry for his second of the season.

Getzlaf has goals in the last three games after getting shut out in his first six.