Ducks put out healthy effort

Teemu Selanne skipped a day of practice to fight off flu symptoms that came Monday night. After making the Nashville Predators feel downright sick 48 hours later, the Ducks’ high-scoring forward said he could get used to having more downtime.

“It’s funny,” Selanne said after another two-goal performance in the Ducks’ 4-0 victory Wednesday night. “Every time when I get a day off, I do something almost every time.

“Maybe I just need a little break. But don’t tell the coach.”

Selanne scored two goals for the fourth time in the last nine games as the Ducks overwhelmed another would-be Stanley Cup contender in reasserting their dominance in the Western Conference in front of an announced 15,362 at the Honda Center.

Two weeks ago, the Ducks whipped San Jose, 5-0, in their first meeting. Against a short-handed Nashville team, they put forward as decisive an effort after consecutive lackluster showings against the Kings last weekend.

They held the Predators to 21 shots, which were stopped by Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who got his fourth shutout and 25th of his career. Giguere hasn’t had four shutouts since getting eight in his breakthrough 2002-03 season.

Everything is going right for Giguere, who won his NHL-leading 17th game. Two of his saves were on shots by Jordin Tootoo and Scott Nichol that hit his mask.

“Not that I want to do that,” Giguere said. “I just try to be at the right place at the right time and try to be between the puck and the net. Try to make myself look as big as possible to the shooter.”

The Predators were without injured forwards Jason Arnott and David Legwand. They also didn’t have star goaltender Tomas Vokoun, who is out because of a broken thumb.

Backup Chris Mason is now their man in the net and the Ducks took advantage. Chris Kunitz had a goal and three assists for the second four-point game of his young career.

Selanne continues to amaze. The 36-year-old forward has been the league’s hottest player since November, with 14 goals and 15 assists in his last 18 games.

“Makes me wish I was playing with him when he was 26,” Kunitz said.

Selanne said he had a high fever Tuesday and wasn’t sure if he would play until Wednesday morning.

“My throat was so sore and swollen,” he said. “I’m so glad that the doctor got me the right medicine. I was still a little concerned with how I’d feel tonight, especially in the morning. It felt like I had 50 pounds of extra weight on my legs.”

Quipped Coach Randy Carlyle: “Now, he’s going to be whining for more days off. He’s got a better chance of seeing the big guy than him getting any more days off.”

The Ducks saddled themselves with penalty problems in the first period but turned it into a positive by expertly killing all four Nashville power plays. Selanne put them on the scoreboard in the final minute of the period when he beat Mason after getting a pass from Andy McDonald.

The Ducks made it a two-goal lead midway through the second period when they caught Nashville off guard.

Defenseman Chris Pronger got the puck from Giguere as the Predators dumped the puck in to make a line change and fired it out to Kunitz, who was sitting at the Nashville blue line.

Kunitz saw Ryan Getzlaf breaking toward the net behind rookie defenseman Shea Weber and fed him a perfect pass in stride. Getzlaf made a move to his backhand that sent Mason to the ice and neatly tucked in his fifth goal in six games and 13th of the season.

The Ducks finished off with power-play goals by Selanne and Kunitz in the third period.

eric.stephens@latimes.com