Ducks Finally End the Curse of Selanne

The jinx is finally over for the Mighty Ducks.

Since trading away popular winger Teemu Selanne to San Jose, the Ducks had lost all six games they played against the Sharks.

But that changed Wednesday night.

Goaltender Steve Shields and winger Jeff Friesen, two players acquired in the Selanne deal in March, had big games against their old team to lead the streaking Ducks to a 2-1 victory in front of sellout crowd of 17,496 at Compaq Center.

Shields finished with 27 saves and Friesen had two timely assists for the Ducks, who won their third in a row.

Selanne, who scored a hat track in his first game against the Ducks in the spring, did not score on Wednesday.

The Ducks improved to 6-3-1-3 over their last 13 games.

“Any time a player gets traded, they have a little more interest in that particular game because they know the guys on the other side so well,” Duck Coach Bryan Murray said about Shields and Friesen. “I thought both of them had good games.”

The Sharks, who were 9-1-2 in their previous 12 games, tried to knock out the Ducks early.

Thanks to a slashing penalty on defenseman Pavel Trnka, the Sharks had a man-advantage 1:57 into the game.

Shields was ready for the opening attack from his former teammates, keeping them scoreless on the power play. But 14 seconds after the Ducks returned to full strength, San Jose took a 1-0 lead.

Winger Scott Thornton notched his 11th goal of the season when he picked up a pass from linemate Mike Ricci and fired the puck from inside the right circle past Shields at 4:12.

With a one-goal lead, San Jose continued to dominate play and could have broken the game open if not for a couple of nice stops made by Shields, who had not started since he gave up three goals in a defeat to Columbus on Dec. 14.

“It doesn’t matter to me where it happened, I just wanted to help the team play well,” said Shields, who played three seasons with San Jose.

The Ducks scored on their first power-play opportunity of the game to tie the score, 1-1.

Friesen got things going when he skated near the end line toward San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, then found forward Mike Leclerc at the top of the crease.

Leclerc’s first shot was blocked, but not his second.

With Matt Cullen also crashing the net, Leclerc knocked in his 11th goal of the season with only 13 seconds remaining in the period.

For the Ducks, who trailed in first-period shots, 10-5, it was only their 11th power-play goal on the road this season.

In a penalty-filled second period, the Ducks had the best chances of breaking the tie.

San Jose picked up four consecutive minor penalties, but the Ducks failed to score even though they outshot the Sharks, 9-1, in the opening half of the period.

The score remained, 1-1, heading into the third period because Shields and Nabokov made short-handed breakaway saves in the second. Shields stopped San Jose sniper Owen Nolan and Nabokov walled Duck penalty-killers Dan Bylsma and Marc Chouinard on a two-on-one rush.

Nabokov, however, appeared to not have a clue on the Ducks’ second goal, which Cullen scored 68 seconds into the third period with Friesen again in the middle of the action.

Cullen scored his eighth goal of the season and fourth in seven games when he gathered in a rebound of a shot from Friesen, who had sent the puck from the slot against the end boards.

Leading, 2-1, the Ducks turned up their defense and relied on Shields to help them win two consecutive road games for the first time this season.

“Everyone here is showing that they want things to get better,” Bylsma said regarding the Ducks’ new attitude. “Not only win right now, but win for the future.

“You want to be on a team that is growing and trying to improve ... but [we] know it’s not an overnight process.”