Schneider nets win for Ducks

Now that the Ducks have committed themselves to defense, defense and more defense, the other thing they may need to address on the path back to contention is the ability to score.

Leave it to the defense to take care of that as well.

Chris Pronger tied the game with a third-period goal and Mathieu Schneider won it in overtime Wednesday night, giving the Ducks a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at the Honda Center.

General Manager Brian Burke resisted the temptation to trade Schneider in order to fit returning star Scott Niedermayer under the salary cap, opting to deal longtime center Andy McDonald instead. It paid off at the 3:31 mark in overtime when Schneider jumped up on a two-on-one rush with Chris Kunitz and snapped a shot past Colorado goalie Peter Budaj.

“I went over it I don’t know how many times while all the rumors were going on,” Schneider said. “Brian came out and said some wonderful things about me and I really appreciate it.

“To me, to have the opportunity to keep this defense corps together is pretty amazing. I think it’s going to be the source of a lot of wins this year.”

With Niedermayer, Pronger, Schneider and Francois Beauchemin all playing more than 21 minutes, that corps took care of both ends of the ice.

Even after playing 24 hours before in San Jose, the Ducks thoroughly dominated a rested Avalanche team that hadn’t played since beating the Kings on Monday. They seemed to play the entire game in the Colorado zone, holding the Avalanche to nine shots after two periods and badly outshot them, 34-12, through regulation.

All they could get on the scoreboard through the first 60 minutes was a goal by, who else, a defenseman.

Pronger jumped on a rebound after Budaj made the initial stop on rookie Ryan Carter. The captain used his 6-foot-6 frame to reach out with his stick and backhand the puck into the net.

“We’ve been talking about it for the last little while of getting into the play and trying to close the gap,” Pronger said. “I saw a little opportunity to go through to the net.

“Carter made a great shot. The goalie kicked the rebound out and I was fortunate.”

Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle was more effusive with his praise.

“If you talk about our group, we’re looking for those players to step up,” Carlyle said. “Those are big-league plays by elite-level defensemen.”

The triumph provided another boost for the Ducks (17-15-5), who won on consecutive nights for the first time this season after getting a 2-0 win over the Sharks.

With that, Anaheim pulled to within three points of idle Dallas in the Pacific Division and one point of second-place San Jose.

Yet the Ducks had trouble taking advantage of Colorado, which didn’t have captain Joe Sakic because of a groin injury and winger Ryan Smyth, who developed a stiff neck Wednesday.

Had they been able to finish some golden scoring chances in regulation, there wouldn’t have been the need for extra theatrics.

Francois Beauchemin and Ryan Getzlaf could have given them a 2-0 lead in the first period had they buried the puck into wide-open nets instead of missing wide. Rob Niedermayer was robbed on a backhand in the third period when Budaj got his glove on it as he sprawled on the ice.

Budaj finished with 36 saves. Meanwhile, Jonas Hiller only had to make 11 to get his first win with the Ducks since his first NHL start on Sept. 30.

“He stood on his head tonight,” Schneider said of Budaj. “He kept them in the game. That should have been a four or five-goal game easily. We missed a couple of empty nets.”

eric.stephens@latimes.com