Ducks Rally Past Sharks, 3-2

Ruslan Salei stood with his arms extended after Anaheim’s 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks at the Arrowhead Pond on Wednesday.

Satisfaction? Elation? Relief? All fit the occasion.

“It’s about time,” Salei said.

For the Ducks, it was. Salei’s goal 8 minutes 9 seconds into the third period led the Mighty Ducks to a victory that seemed to have a snowball’s chance of happening after one period.

The Ducks were underwhelming the announced 12,246 at the Pond, but Salei helped end that with his first goal of the season, whipping a shot from the blue line that was redirected off the stick of San Jose’s Alyn McCauley on the way to the net. The Ducks won for the first time when trailing after two periods this season.

“It’s about time I scored a goal,” Salei said. “My girlfriend’s sister just had a baby and they kept telling me that I better score or else they were never talking to me.”

This, though, meant more than just family harmony. This was a step forward for Team Enigma. The Ducks have puzzled their general manager, their coach and their fans throughout the season with a now-we’re-going, now-we’re-not style.

So rallying from a 2-0 first-period deficit, was a monumental step in Duck eyes.

Petr Sykora and Andy McDonald scored goals. Martin Gerber spent another day as the Ducks’ top goalie, making crucial saves early for his second consecutive victory. The Ducks buckled down on defense during several scrambles in front of their net in the final minutes.

The Ducks spent the last two periods chasing the Sharks after falling behind, 2-0. They caught and passed them in a 49-second span in the third period.

Yeoman’s work by Samuel Pahlsson led to the tying goal. He extended himself to keep the puck in the Shark zone, then left a drop pass for Vitaly Vishnevski. Vesa Toskala made the save, but Sykora was there to shovel in the rebound 7:20 into the period.

Salei broke the tie 49 seconds later.

“It was to the point where I had to just throw the puck at the net,” Salei said. “The puck was going to bounce off someone sooner or later.”

It did Wednesday, giving the Ducks a victory that seemed only remotely possible after the first period.

“A coach can only act his shoe size and not his age before a game only so much,” Coach Mike Babcock said.

“These are professionals. They are supposed to get ready for games.”

Gerber was, as he did what he could to keep the game scoreless. He made bang-bang saves five minutes into the game. Jonathan Cheechoo got off a wrist shot that Gerber blocked, and the rebound went to a charging Kyle McLaren in the slot. But Gerber managed to stick his left foot back and make a toe save.

But goals by Scott Hannan and Scott Parker had the Ducks in a 2-0 hole.

“They are really fast,” Duck forward Vaclav Prospal said during the first-period intermission. “They may be the fastest team in the NHL. The most important thing is they kicked our butt in the first period.”

The Ducks had a 16-4 shot advantage in the second period, but it wasn’t until they took the last one that they solved Toskala. Andy McDonald blistered a shot into the upper right-hand corner of the net with 12.7 seconds left in the period, cutting the Shark lead to 2-1.

That got the Ducks moving forward.

“That’s huge, because you’d have outshot them 16-4 and have nothing to show for it,” Babcock said. “With that goal, you leave the ice thinking you can have some success.”