Giguere Finally Beats His Old Team

This was another day at the office for Mighty Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who stopped 28 of 29 shots in a 2-1 victory over Carolina on Sunday.

Yet it was also his first victory over the Hurricanes, the franchise that picked him in the first round of the 1995 draft -- Carolina was the Hartford Whalers at the time.

“It’s always nice to beat your former team,” said Giguere, who was 0-2-1 against the Hurricanes. “It has been six years and maybe it doesn’t mean as much to me now. But you ask any player and they will tell you that it’s always special to beat one of your former teams.”

Still, he wasn’t going to take any bows.

“We’ve been playing a good team game,” Giguere said. “Guys are giving up one shot and then clearing the rebound.”

The Ducks killed five penalties and have given up only four goals in the last 50 power plays. But the game rested on Giguere’s play early. Carolina had an 11-4 advantage in shots through the first 18 minutes.

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Paul Kariya’s second-period goal gave him at least 20 goals for the seventh time in his career.

Defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh, acquired in a trade last week, made the play happen. He came in from the blue and poked the puck into the corner, where Petr Sykora was able to center to Kariya.

“[Sandis] is just going to get better and better as he gets more comfortable for here,” Kariya said.

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The Ducks are six games over .500 for the first time in franchise history, although that depends on how you do the math. With four overtime losses, the Ducks could be viewed as being only two games over .500.

Duck officials, however, are claiming the six games.