Ducks don’t get boxed in this time

Here’s the stat of the day -- maybe of the season -- for the Ducks.

For the first time in 44 games they had more goals than penalties, uncharacteristic for a team Brian Burke styled as the NHL’s bad boys during his tenure as general manager.

When he went off to work miracles (or not) in Toronto, the Ducks’ penchant for taking bad penalties remained to haunt them.

But Sunday, in Corey Perry’s return from a four-game suspension for having stupidly elbowed an opponent in the head, the Ducks reined in their bad habits and took only two minor penalties in a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

“If we’re being disciplined it helps our overall game,” left wing Chris Kunitz said after scoring the Ducks’ third and fourth goals, his first multi-goal game since he had two against St. Louis on Dec. 10.

Cue the light bulb to shine over their helmeted heads.

When you’re having trouble scoring, missing key forwards, and making your checkers work too hard to fill their primary role, taking needless penalties is a bad idea.

“We’ve got to play defense first,” Coach Randy Carlyle said, “and if we play more games like we played tonight from the defensive aspect, then it doesn’t tax your goalies so much either.”

Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere faced only 21 shots and was victimized by some odd bounces in earning his first victory since Dec. 14. He also made some good saves, none better than when he patiently followed Jamie Langenbrunner’s stickhandling moves and got in front of the resulting shot on a short-handed breakaway in the third period, when the Ducks were leading 3-2.

“That one feels good. I won’t lie to you,” Giguere said of the triumph.

The Devils did capitalize on one of their advantages. The Ducks had taken a 2-1 lead on Samuel Pahlsson’s shot past Scott Clemmensen’s glove at 19:51 of the first period, but New Jersey pulled even while Steve Montador was in the penalty box and David Clarkson scored from a crowd in front of the net at 16:56 of the second period.

“But then the first line goes out in the third period and gets it done for us,” Bobby Ryan said cheerfully, referring to Kunitz’s wraparound at 1:36 and blast from the left circle at 16:27.

One good performance didn’t persuade Scott Niedermayer that the Ducks have this discipline thing down pat.

His skepticism is understandable. Healthy, even, given that the Ducks have gone sideways since they ripped off an 8-0-1 surge in late October and early November.

“We have to keep doing that,” he said of Sunday’s effort. “One night doesn’t mean we’ve proven that. That’s the way you have to do it. You have to believe in what you’re doing and keep doing it and it will pay off.”

They did it well Sunday, boosted by Perry’s return and the ripple effect that caused.

Perry, back on the first line, assisted on both of Kunitz’s goals. Ryan, bumped to the second line with Andrew Ebbett and Brendan Morrison, responded with another gem in his string of highlight-reel goals and gave the Ducks two effective scoring lines.

Ryan scored his 12th goal -- second-most among NHL rookies even though he has played only 26 games -- when he took a cross-ice pass from Morrison, shook off a checker and lunged to beat Clemmensen with a wrist shot.

That tied the score at 1-1 at 15:21 of the first period, matching the goal the Devils had scored when Mike Mottau’s long shot caromed off Bobby Holik’s helmet and past Giguere at 12:53.

Giguere was victimized again with 30.2 seconds left in the third period and the Devils using six attackers. A teammate accidentally poked the puck over the goal line while trying to lodge it beneath his pads, but the Ducks rode out the final seconds before a happy sellout crowd at the Honda Center.

“You’ve got to roll with the punches and hope at the end of the day you end up winning the game,” Giguere said. “Tonight, after every bounce they had we answered back and big time, so that was good.”

It was an unstinting effort against a team that won three Stanley Cup championships with stifling defense. Kunitz said the Ducks knew they’d have to have a good start and try to exhaust the Devils, who outplayed the Kings at Staples Center less than 24 hours earlier.

“We’ve been hovering around .500 the last little while. We’re not really advancing ourselves,” Kunitz said. “We know there’s a lot of critical games in the second half and you can never get those two points back. Every win’s important for us.”

Winning might actually become a habit if they can stay disciplined and stay out of the penalty box.

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helene.elliott@latimes.com