Just like old times for McDonald, Ducks

Perhaps no one has epitomized the Ducks’ early struggles more than center Andy McDonald.

As his former linemate Teemu Selanne sat in the Honda Center stands appearing content in semi-retirement, McDonald often has looked as if he’s alone on an island with only eight points in the first 17 games.

The diminutive center took center stage for the first time this season as he scored the tying goal in regulation and added another in the shootout to give the Ducks a 3-2 victory Friday night over the San Jose Sharks.

The Ducks also got a goal from Ryan Getzlaf, who also added one during the shootout to help lift his team to only its third win in the last nine games.

“It feels good to win,” McDonald said. “We’ve had kind of a frustrated group in here, fighting for wins. To be able to come back from behind to win feels good and to be able to contribute like that feels good.”

McDonald has struggled to find the chemistry with other wingers that he had with Selanne the last two seasons when he had point totals of 85 and 78, respectively.

With Selanne among the sellout crowd of 17,174, McDonald tied the score at 2-2 when he ripped a wrist shot past San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov on the stick side after using his speed to get behind the defense.

It was McDonald’s first goal since Oct. 23 against St. Louis.

“The last couple of games, he’s been all around [the rink] and you could see it was just a matter of time,” Ducks defenseman Mathieu Schneider said. “He’s just been working so hard and he’s getting opportunities. Tonight, he capitalized on it.”

Amazingly, the Ducks took over first place in the Pacific Division with a 7-8-3 record as none of the five teams appear capable of handling success.

Outside of a four-game winning streak by the Kings, no one else has won more than two consecutive games. The Ducks have already had losing streaks of three and four games after going until late December without such a streak last season.

Behind Getzlaf and McDonald, they won their second consecutive shootout and are break even in four tries after going 7-17 in their first two seasons.

“Every point is very, very important at this juncture,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said.

“You see the grouping of the teams and the way everything sort of changes with one win or one loss.”

The Ducks were forced to rally for the third consecutive game after Joe Thornton broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal in the final minute of the second period.

Instead of scrambling and committing costly turnovers as they did during Wednesday night’s 6-5 overtime loss to Phoenix, the Ducks tightened up their defense and methodically kept working until McDonald’s tying goal.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 22 saves for the Ducks as he countered Nabokov, who stopped 24 shots.

“Every game matters right now,” Getzlaf said. “We’re playing a whole bunch of divisional opponents where there’s four-point nights. We had an opportunity to take a step in the right direction and we were able to do it in the end.”

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eric.stephens@latimes.com

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