Ducks end five-game slide with 4-2 win over Sharks

The Ducks finally looked like the team they were before the Olympic break Sunday — maybe even better — in a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks at the Honda Center. Too bad the Olympics have been over for two weeks.

It was a feel-good game until the third period, when two of the Ducks’ best players — Teemu Selanne and Ryan Getzlaf — left the ice with injuries within minutes of each other and didn’t return.

Selanne, who scored his 599th NHL goal earlier in the game and kept buzzing around the net for No. 600, slid hard into the boards after tripping on a stick on a scoring attempt with 18:16 left. After getting up very slowly — first to his hands and knees, then to one knee — he skated off unassisted and did not return.

A team official said Selanne was “shaken up” and suffered an upper-body injury.

Soon after Selanne was hurt, Getzlaf reinjured his left ankle, which he sprained before the Olympics. He later left the arena wearing a walking boot and is considered to be day-to-day.

Until then, the game was a turnabout from the Ducks’ post-Olympic malaise. Eight players competed in Vancouver, but they returned seemingly mentally and physically drained and the Ducks lost their first five games, going 0-4-1.

“We were dumbfounded with what was happening with our group, and how long it took,” Coach Randy Carlyle said, calling it impossible to duplicate the adrenaline and “aura” of an Olympics.

Corey Perry, one of three Ducks on Canada’s gold-medal-winning team, said the transition has been difficult.

“It took a toll on a lot of guys,” he said. “We found something tonight. Hopefully it can carry over.”

It is a stretch to think it will make a difference in the playoff chase. The Ducks are eight points back with 14 games remaining.

More games such as Sunday’s would keep the final weeks from feeling like a death march. With goals from Perry, Selanne and Lubomir Visnovsky — his third since he was acquired at the trade deadline — the Ducks took a 3-0 lead over the team with the best record in the Western Conference.

“It’s just a confidence boost, knowing you can play with the top teams in the league,” Perry said after the Ducks’ first win in six tries against the team they upset in the first round of the playoffs last season.

San Jose ended Jonas Hiller’s shutout bid when Joe Thornton scored at 9:06 of the third, but Bobby Ryan scored an empty-netter with 1:13 remaining to make the lead 4-1. A good thing, since San Jose’s Jamie McGinn added another goal with 56 seconds left.

Much of the fun of the game was watching Selanne chase his 600th goal. No. 599 came on a beautiful end-to-end play at 7:40 of the first after Selanne turned on the jets as he skated toward the Sharks’ net and dropped the puck to Saku Koivu. Koivu passed back to Selanne, and Selanne beat Evgeni Nabokov high inside the near post.

Selanne had two terrific chances for No. 600 on a five-on-three power play in the second, and when Nabokov stopped him on a shot from the slot later, Selanne leaned over as if in disbelief, putting his helmet to his stick.

Someone asked Carlyle after the game if the cloud had lifted.

“Well, we’ve seen some sunshine,” he said.

Etc.

Ducks forward George Parros was released from UCI Medical Center on Sunday afternoon. He was taken to the hospital after he was hit in the head by a puck during the team’s morning skate. Parros suffered a cut and bruises, but results from precautionary tests were normal.

robynnorwood@verizon.net