Ducks mark milestone with 3-2 win over Oilers

Scott Niedermayer’s milestone 1,000th game was nearly lost in the frenzy over Chris Pronger’s return to Edmonton. Niedermayer liked it that way.

“It’s just one of 1,000, as important as my first, or No. 210, and the rest,” he said.

But his Ducks teammates thought he deserved to celebrate. They gave him reason to rejoice Tuesday by rallying to defeat the Oilers, 3-2, on Ryan Getzlaf’s goal 2:19 into overtime.

“We wanted to win for those guys big time. A little more, even, for Scotty,” said Getzlaf, who pounced on the puck after Chris Kunitz knocked it away from Edmonton’s Ryan Smyth and rifled a shot past Dwayne Roloson.

Niedermayer orchestrated the Ducks’ first goal, by Teemu Selanne, which halved an early 2-0 Edmonton lead that might have been bigger if not for Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s strong play. Kunitz tied the score with 16.7 seconds left.

The Ducks lead the NHL with 42 points, two more than the Sabres, who have played two fewer games. The Ducks also ended a 12-game regular-season losing streak in Edmonton. Most important for Coach Randy Carlyle, however, was winning for Niedermayer and Pronger.

“Those are big members of our group,” he said. “They’re our leaders and they’ve bailed out our group more than once and it’s nice to see that our work ethic came through in the end and we got the points.”