Ducks Are Taking Flight

The Mighty Ducks were smiling two nights in a row.

Dan Bylsma, flat on his stomach, managed to put the puck in the back of the net.

Matt Cullen, teetering backward, slid a shot that found its way in.

Mike Leclerc, on the fly, provided the coup de grace tapping in a goal off a Paul Kariya-type pass from Paul Kariya.

These were moments, rare much of the season, that lifted the Ducks to a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators in front of 15,537 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center on Saturday. The Ducks matched their season high with three consecutive victories.

Kariya and Leclerc hooked up on an end-to-end run, Kariya waiting until the last moment to slip a pass to a wide-open Leclerc, who had an even wider open net.

A pretty goal worth watching over and over. But it was the ugly Duck goals, by Bylsma and Cullen, that put things in motion.

“Those are better than the tic-tac-toe goals,” Cullen said. “You feel like you’re in those. You work hard, you made something happen and the puck finds a way in. It feels really good to get those in, before there was no question they were going to be stopped or hit the post.”

This was the Ducks’ second victory since word leaked that General Manager Pierre Gauthier had been shopping a group of 10 players, at least six with the team, around the league. That news hit the dressing room like a boulder.

The Ducks took any unhappiness out on opponents. They manhandled a dysfunctional Dallas team, 6-1, Friday. They then outworked Nashville on Saturday, getting victories in successive nights for the first time this season.

“Obviously it really opens eyes,” Cullen said. “You realize things are going to change at some point and things have to change when they are not going well like this year. It makes you focus on getting your game in order and you want to make sure you’re doing all you can to help the team win.”

Bylsma and Cullen did.

Denny Lambert drove to the net, lost the puck, and collided into Bylsma. Both were flat on the ice, but Bylsma pushed the puck out with his hand, then swung his stick and managed to slide a shot past goalie Mike Dunham, who was also face down.

Bylsma has seven goals and 14 points this season, both career highs.

“When you find yourself on your stomach it’s pretty hard to score unless you push it out,” Bylsma said. “All I was really doing was pushing it out so I could take whack at it. This was more a Dan Bylsma goal than a real goal.”

It counted just the same, tying the score, 1-1, with 1 minute 47 seconds left in the first period.

Cullen gave the Ducks the lead early in the second period, with considerable help from his linemates. Marty McInnis went behind the net and centered a pass. German Titov put the puck toward the net and Cullen, while being shoved back, tapped a roller under Dunham’s legs for a 2-1 lead.

“Those are things we weren’t able to capitalize on before,” Coach Bryan Murray said. “We never seemed to get the goals from the scrums around the net or the battles at the crease. Tonight, we got two of them.”

Of course, the Ducks have had one-goal leads beforeplenty of them. They are also 12 games under .500. Do the math.

This time, though, the Ducks were able to smother an opponent. Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere saw only 19 shots and had to make only a few desperate saves. Kariya and Leclerc settled matters with six minutes left.