Ducks Follow Form to Beat Coyotes, 3-2

As long as the Mighty Ducks continue to defeat teams they’re supposed to beat -- as they did Friday night against Phoenix -- they’ll keep themselves in the playoff hunt.

Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 31saves and forward Jason Krog established a career high with three assists to lead the Ducks to a 3-2 victory over the Coyotes before an announced crowd of 14,440 at the Arrowhead Pond.

The Ducks improved to 24-19-7-4, and their 59 points place them one point behind seventh-place Colorado in the Western Conference. Over the next month, the Ducks will have a golden opportunity to move up in the standings because 11 of their next 14 games are against teams with losing records. The Coyotes are 19-23-7-4.

“We were really skating well tonight,” said defenseman Niclas Havelid, whose second-period goal wound up being the game winner for the Ducks, who are 9-3-0-1 since Jan. 9. “We’re a skating team and we had our legs going. It was a good team effort from everyone.”

The Ducks, who improved to 13-7-5-1 at home, played their best game since the All-Star break. In splitting two games in Canada this week, the Ducks were inconsistent, which concerned Coach Mike Babcock.

Krog, an off-season free agent pick-up who’s having a career season with six goals and 17 points, was on top of his game Friday.

“He’s an intelligent player who works hard on his body,” Babcock said about Krog. “He’s a greasy player who’s really improved his first step. He’s becoming a real good player for us.”

Although Paul Kariya and Petr Sykora failed to score, they set the pace by combining for 18 of the Ducks’ 34 shots.

“They could have easily [combined] for five [goals],” Babcock said.

After a scoreless first period, the Ducks found themselves down early in the second when Phoenix winger Mike Johnson got credit for a power-play goal after teammate Ramzi Abid bounced the puck off of him and past Giguere at 2:17.

The Coyotes’ lead didn’t last long.

As if Johnson’s score just gave them more incentive, the Ducks ripped through the Coyotes to score three unanswered goals in the second period.

Duck forward Patric Kjellberg tied the score at 1-1 when he teamed with Krog on a perfectly executed give-and-go play to beat goalie Zac Bierk at 5:56 for his first goal since Dec. 29.

The Ducks took the lead when rookie Stanislav Chistov ripped home a goal from the slot after two impressive passes by Mike Leclerc and Krog at 9:54.

Nearly five minutes later, the Ducks gave themselves some breathing room when Havelid jumped into the play and scored at 14:14 off Samuel Pahlsson’s second assist of the game.

That was all the support Giguere would need. Despite giving up a goal to winger Paul Ranheim midway into the third, Giguere made enough key saves to make sure the Ducks’ lead stood up. He improved his record to 23-16-4.

The Ducks, who had the best power-play percentage and penalty-kill efficiency since Dec. 1 before Friday’s game, did not have a great special teams’ night against Phoenix. The Coyotes scored once in two power-play opportunities, while the Ducks were scoreless in four man-advantage situations.

But that’s not a big concern for Babcock.

“I thought that our power play was good,” he said. “We generated a ton of opportunities.... I don’t think that’s a problem.”