Anaheim Ducks win three straight as Saku Koivu scores hat trick in 5-2 victory over Dallas Stars
The Anaheim Ducks finally look to be showing some sort of form in what has been a poor 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season for the team, after winning 5-2 at the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California, over rivals, Dallas Stars, taking them to
three straight wins in a row for just the second time in the year.
Ducks' Saku Koivu scored his second hat-trick in three games to power his team to victory, as the Ducks improved their record to 13-22-6 for the season.
It was one of those rare times in the Ducks' season, when everything worked for the team, which will certainly boost the players’ confidence over the remaining season.
"There's nothing we can do with the past," Koivu said. "There have been a lot of positive things in the last little while, even though we haven't won all the games. We're scoring goals now, and not allowing a lot of goals. We're feeling good, and it's showing."
Dallas Stars had their two game winning streak snapped after their loss, and remain two points behind the Los Angeles Kings, occupying the eighth spot in the Western Conference.
The Stars are now 23-17-1 for the season with 47 points.
Dallas's coach, Glen Gulutzan, was definitely unhappy with his team’s finishing and highlighted the missed opportunities on Anaheim's goaltender, Jeff Deslauriers, who made 26 saves during the game to keep the Stars out.
"I think we hit four posts in the first 20 minutes, so if one of those goes, maybe we're not pushing so much to try and get those goals in the third, I didn't mind our game altogether. ... We just couldn't get anything to sink there, and I thought they took
it to us a little bit", Gulutzan said.
Ducks were on the scoreboard just a minute after the game started, with Koivu netting the puck at 1:30.
The game then went back and forth as both teams tried to score.
The Ducks made it 2-0 in the second period at 9:22 with Luca Sbisa scoring with a fine solo effort as he put the puck past Stars' goaltender, Kari Lehtonen, who ended the night with 21 redirections.
It seemed that the game would remain a low scoring affair before the third period.
However, Dallas Stars made a comeback attempt and equalised early in the third period, with two goals from Steve Ott and Alex Goligoski.
The game was becoming interesting and it was anybody’s win with eighteen minutes left in the third period.
Saku Koivu regained the advantage for the Ducks at 9:32 with a brilliant assist from Teemu Selanne, to make it 3-2.
The Ducks then went out to put the game to bed.
Matt Beleskey scored at 14:40 to give Anaheim a two-goal lead and Koivu completed his hat trick, with a minute left in the game off another assist from Selanne.
Anaheim Ducks will look to make it four wins in a row when they face the heated Calgary Flames at home on Thursday, while Dallas Stars will want to bounce back from the defeat when they take on the Los Angeles Kings on the same day.
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