Duck Victory Is Home-Grown

Records continue to fall for the Mighty Ducks, who established a franchise mark for consecutive home victories with a dominating 4-0 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Sunday night at the Arrowhead Pond.

The Ducks stretched their home winning streak to six and their home unbeaten streak to nine (6-0-3), which equals the longest in the NHL this season. Not bad for a team that began the season 3-4-1 at home.

Defenseman Niclas Havelid scored twice and goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere earned his fifth shutout of the season and 13th of his career with 24 saves for the Ducks, who improved to five games over .500 in front of an announced crowd of 12,267.

“We moved the puck and we skated, which is something that we haven’t done since the first period against St. Louis [a 5-2 win on Dec. 18],” Duck Coach Mike Babcock said.

“It was nice to see us get back and get rolling, and obviously, to have a winning streak like we do at home right now ... is real important.”

The Ducks also helped themselves with another strong power-play effort. They scored twice in five man-advantage situations against Phoenix. It gives the Ducks eight power-play goals in three games and a power-play goal in seven consecutive games.

“We’ve talked a lot about the power play because we know it’s a big part of the game,” Havelid said. “Before we were more stagnant and stayed in position, but now we’re trying to roll around a little bit more and shoot the puck.”

With key defensemen Keith Carney and Ruslan Salei back in the lineup after sitting out Thursday’s 5-4 loss to the Kings, the Ducks were clicking early against the Coyotes.

Rugged winger Mike Brown, recalled from minor league Cincinnati on Friday, scored his first NHL goal to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead 6:36 into the first period. Linemates Jason Krog and Dan Bylsma completed two skillful passes to set up Brown, who beat Phoenix goaltender Brian Boucher from outside the right post.

Phoenix, which entered with a three-game unbeaten streak and a 3-1-2 record in its last six games, had a chance to tie the score minutes later only to have Giguere swat away a short-handed breakaway shot by Daymond Langkow.

“That’s a totally different game [if Langkow scored],” Babcock said. “It’s something that you don’t think about [in a 4-0 win].”

The Ducks made the Coyotes pay with a power-play goal when Paul Kariya snuck a pass through traffic to Matt Cullen, who scored his sixth goal to give Anaheim a 2-0 lead at 9:54.

Fewer than three minutes later, the Ducks continued their dominant first period with a goal from Havelid at 12:51. Cullen set up the score with a nifty pass from the backboards after beating two Phoenix players to the puck.

The Ducks did not score in the second against backup goalie Zac Bierk, who replaced Boucher after Havelid’s score, but they still controlled play for the majority of the period.

In the third, the Ducks added Havelid’s second goal. On a Duck power play, Havelid gathered in a cross-ice pass from center Steve Rucchin before shooting in his seventh goal of the season at 4:01.

“The last time we played Phoenix [a 2-2 tie Nov. 27], we let it get away from us ... with two odd-man rushes down the stretch,” Babcock said. “Tonight, we didn’t give up anything down the stretch, which was nice to see.”