A Ducks lightning strike

The kids gave the Ducks a lift at the Honda Center on Wednesday before captain Ryan Getzlaf and 40-year-old Teemu Selanne finished off a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning by combining on a goal two minutes 53 seconds into overtime.

The win over one of the top early-season teams in the Eastern Conference broke a two-game losing streak for the Ducks.

“We’re under pressure all over the place,” said Getzlaf, who scored his fifth goal of the season and second career overtime goal. Selanne, who set up the game-winner, earlier scored his team-leading sixth goal.

But the Ducks got to the extra period only because Kyle Palmieri, making his NHL debut, scored his first NHL goal to tie the score, 2-2, with 4:20 left in the third period.

“The kid scored a big goal in his first game,” Getzlaf said. “It’s very exciting when you’ve got guys coming up from the minor leagues and they’re excited to be here.”

Bobby Ryan carried the puck down the wing and passed it back to Palmieri in the slot.

“It was unbelievable. I was so excited. The whole play just seemed kind of slow,” Palmieri said. Ryan “kind of just banked it off me. I didn’t really have to do much.”

Palmieri, 19, a 2009 first-round pick with a selection acquired from Philadelphia in the Chris Pronger trade, made his NHL debut after being called up from Syracuse of the American Hockey League, where he was tied for the league lead in goals.

He arrived late Tuesday night and tried to quiet his mind.

“I didn’t get much sleep,” Palmieri said. “I turned my phone off and turned my computer off and tried to get some rest.”

His goal woke the Ducks up in the third.

In overtime, Selanne picked up the puck near the blue line and skated hard down the left wing and behind the net before passing to an onrushing Getzlaf in front of the goal.

“I just had to put it in the net. He did the rest,” Getzlaf said. “He showed his speed and showed his legs.”

It was something of a youngsters’ night for the Ducks, who also benefited from the return of standout rookie defenseman Cam Fowler, 18. Fowler had missed the last six games because of a broken nose and stiff neck.

The score was tied, 1-1, after two periods, but the Lightning’s Steven Stamkos, the leading scorer in the NHL the first month of the season, scored the go-ahead goal 21 seconds into the third period on a bang-bang play while still on a power play that began in the second.

Stamkos, a 20-year-old Canadian, has 10 goals and 20 points in 11 games after scoring 51 goals last season.

“We were playing against a hockey club with a lot of confidence, and we’ve had our fair share of turmoil,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said.

Etc.

The Ducks put a tentative timetable of three to four weeks on the possible return of Joffrey Lupul, out almost a year after back surgery and complications from an infection. Lupul, who hasn’t played since December, skated with the team for the first time Wednesday but has not been cleared for contact.

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