Special teams deserve credit for domination

Heading into Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Vancouver Canucks, the Ducks have lost only two playoff games in this postseason, and there are many reasons for that.

The most important may be their domination in special teams. Of the eight remaining teams in the playoffs, the Ducks are tied for first in power-play goals with nine and lead all teams in penalty killing with a 93.6% success rate.

The Ducks’ power play has generated goals in six of the eight playoff games. Two of them came in their 3-2 victory Sunday in Game 3, including the winning goal by Corey Perry.

Canucks defenseman Mattias Ohlund said the Ducks are simply creating a lot of traffic in front of goaltender Roberto Luongo.

“It doesn’t have to be complicated,” Ohlund said Monday. “Usually the best power plays are taking a lot of shots and have people in front of the net. That’s what they’ve been doing lately and they’ve scored quite a few goals on it.”

Penalty killing has been more impressive. The Ducks erased seven of eight disadvantages Sunday, including two while they were two men down, and have killed 44 of 47 in the postseason.

Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle credited the play of Jean-Sebastien Giguere in goal. Giguere, who has started the last four games, has a 1.30 goals-against average.

“Our goalie has given us an opportunity to stave off some real grim situations by not giving up that juicy rebound or not giving up that extra second and third whack at it,” Carlyle said.

Echoed defenseman Chris Pronger: “We’re allowing that first shot and he’s eating up all the rebounds and making sure there isn’t a second, third or fourth attempt.”

Vancouver Coach Alain Vigneault said he needed more effort from his offensive players, most notably captain Markus Naslund, center Brendan Morrison and forwards Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

The Canucks are one for 20 on the power play in the series.

“It’s tougher to score goals in playoff hockey,” Vigneault said. “You don’t see a lot of bang-bang, tic-tac-toe plays in the playoffs. You see guys get pucks to the net, go to those tough areas, take a couple of whacks and cross-checks and find a way to put in the first, second or third rebounds.

“Our players that are on the power play need to do that for us.”

The Ducks have emphasized the need to be more disciplined after taking nine minor penalties in Game 3, including four consecutive in the first period that eventually led to a goal by Naslund.

“I think we feel confident that when we get into penalty trouble that we’re going to be able to kill them off,” Pronger said.

“Obviously, we don’t want to get into the situation of [Sunday] night where we had to kill off four in a row. It gives them momentum.”

*

Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa practiced Monday, but said he wasn’t much closer to playing after sitting out the first three games in the series because of what he and team officials are vaguely referring to as “flu” symptoms.

eric.stephens@latimes.com