Corey Perry lifts the Ducks’ spirits in 5-2 win over Islanders
The Monday blahs took the Ducks to their knees.
There, Corey Perry did what he’s done best this season: shoot and score.
Overcoming some letdown lethargy with three goals in the final eight minutes of the second period, the Ducks beat the New York Islanders, 5-2, improving to 11-0-2 at Honda Center.
Perry scored twice to extend his career-best goals streak to six games and move within two of NHL leader Alexander Ovechkin.
The first came with 1.7 seconds left in the second period and followed a short-handed goal from defenseman Cam Fowler that gave the Ducks (21-7-5) their first lead after twice trailing to a team that hasn’t won in 10 games.
“Those things happen,” Perry said of the Ducks’ slow start that followed their impressive road sweep of defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago and St. Louis. “You’re only human. Last week was emotional and coming off that high.”
After helping to initiate a fight by getting tangled with Islanders goalie Andres Nilsson, Perry came out of the penalty box, collected the puck, skated toward Nilsson again, tripped over New York defenseman Calvin de Haan and scored from his knees to make it 4-2.
“I knew there were only seconds left,” Perry said. “The guy tripped me … I shot and found a way to squeak in.”
Crisp Ducks passing on a third-period power play led to a Nick Bonino shot that hit the post and caromed to Perry, who swept the rebound past Nilsson to effectively clinch the Ducks’ third consecutive victory. They are tied with Chicago with a league-best 47 points.
Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau heaped praise on goalie Jonas Hiller for saving 35 of 37 shots from a team that fell to 8-18-5 and managed just 16 shots in Saturday’s loss at the Kings.
The Ducks turned in one of their most lethargic periods thus far in the first, taking just seven shots — none in the first 10 minutes.
“They came out and played hard,” Boudreau said of the Islanders. “We hung around long enough to get our legs, but once we got to 4-2, that took the heart out of them.”
Hiller impressively stood up to one Islanders man advantage in the second, and then faced one more because of the Perry-involved fight.
Then, forward Matt Beleskey charged down ice and slapped a hard shot that Nilsson couldn’t control. Fowler was there for the follow, scoring his first career short-handed goal.
Fowler played a team-high 25 minutes, 16 seconds and added two assists. Daniel Winnik had a career-best three assists as his linemates Saku Koivu and Andrew Cogliano scored goals to answer New York’s two.
With his assist on Perry’s first goal, Ryan Getzlaf extended his points streak to 14 games.
“We want to play the same way each and every night and I think we’ve been doing that a lot lately,” Perry said. “We weathered the storm.”
games.
“We want to play the same way each and every night and I think we’ve been doing that a lot lately,” Perry said. “We weathered the storm.”
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
