Ducks Respond With a Timely Shutout

There was the emotional meltdown. And then followed the cleanup effort.

The Mighty Ducks knew there would those wary of their mind-set after their self-destructive home loss to the Edmonton Oilers so they went about repairing themselves Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks.

Goals by Andy McDonald and Joffrey Lupul combined with a stout defensive effort paved the way for rookie goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to post his first career shutout in a 2-0 victory at the HP Pavilion.

The victory soothed the Ducks following a 6-3 loss to the Oilers in which they gave up four third-period goals. More importantly, they were in control against the Sharks after losing their cool Wednesday and taking bad penalties that led to decisive Edmonton goals.

“After what happened [Wednesday] night, we felt the way we were going to be judged was by how we commit to playing the game tonight,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “We stayed focused and composed. You have to be happy with our effort.”

It was a complete effort from McDonald and Teemu Selanne continuing their strong offensive play to the defense holding San Jose to 24 shots and killing all six of the Sharks’ power plays.

The effort was all the more impressive because they were missing defenseman Ruslan Salei, who left in the first period and didn’t return after being hit above the right eye on a shot by the Sharks’ Joe Thornton. Salei was taken to a nearby hospital for X-rays and his status is uncertain.

“Everyone was disappointed with the result [Wednesday] night,” McDonald said. “We had to come out tonight and be ready to play. They’re a strong team and it had to be our best effort or we weren’t going to get two points.”

McDonald broke a scoreless tie late in the second when he rushed up the ice and got in front of the net to redirect a shot by Keith Carney past Evgeni Nabokov for his career-best 15th goal.

The line of Selanne, McDonald and rookie wing Chris Kunitz has stayed hot, accounting for 20 points in the last six games. Selanne, who assisted on both goals, needs four points to reach 1,000.

Lupul provided the insurance early in the third on a pass from Selanne after defenseman Francois Beauchemin kicked the puck loose from the boards.

“Our defenseman made a great play,” Lupul said. “Beauchemin kept it in and Teemu picked it up and faked a shot and slid it over. I was just there to bang it in.”

The Ducks did hurt themselves in the third when Jonathan Hedstrom and Vitaly Vishnevski took penalties 13 seconds apart but Bryzgalov stood tall, robbing Nils Ekman and stopping rookie Milan Michalek twice on breakouts.

“I’ve been very close a couple of times,” Bryzgalov said. “The team played unbelievable.”

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Left wing Travis Moen will be sidelined two to three weeks because of a strained left shoulder suffered Wednesday when he was knocked down on an open-ice check by Edmonton defenseman Steve Staios. With Moen’s injury, the Ducks recalled rookie forward Dustin Penner from minor-league Portland.