Corey Perry scores hat trick as Anaheim Ducks ease past Columbus Blue Jackets – NHL Recap
Corey Perry’s hat trick lifted the Anaheim Ducks as they routed the feeble Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-3, in a National Hockey League (NHL) game on Sunday, February 12, 2012, at Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio.
The crowd witnessed the home team struggling badly to score goals when the opponents continued their aggressive outburst in complete flow.
Both these teams have very little or no chance of reaching the playoffs, but Anaheim’s performance at least provided consolation and some hope as well, while the stunned Blue Jackets could not even save their reputation or what was left of it.
Perry scored the first two goals of the game in the first period to signal vicious intentions for Columbus, which could never recover from the deficit.
Perry’s final goal came in the next period when his team had a three-goal advantage.
He said after the game:
"It's just the way it bounces, I guess. I had a lot of shots. They were bound to find a way in. I played with a couple good line-mates tonight, too. They were finding me. We had a lot of chances together."
Perry’s first goal came within the first minute of the game when he collected the puck on a rebound. He spun around and fired a shot from inside the left circle to get the goal.
At 16:15, when Columbus was shorthanded, Perry once again came into action and scored his second goal of the game.
Columbus got its first scoring move around a minute after Perry’s second goal.
At 17:41, Fedor Tyutin took advantage of the shorthanded Ducks and gave his team its first goal.
A little aggression from Blue Jackets might have applied pressure on the visitors, but Ducks completely dominated the hosts in the second period.
At 1:36, Jason Blake scored a goal, which was followed by Bobby Ryan’s power-play goal at 2:58.
At 12:38, when Columbus was once again shorthanded, Perry scored his third goal to take the score to 5-1.
Aaron Johnson scored his third goal of the season to reduce some deficit towards the end of the period.
Columbus got another scoring move in the final period when Antoine Vermette scored a power-play goal.
However, Columbus could not go farther than that and eventually lost the game.
Columbus was bothered most by Perry and the players who assisted him on different occasions.
Columbus interim coach, Todd Richards, said after the loss:
"We were given a bit of a clinic by 15 (Getzlaf), 10 (Perry) and 9 (Ryan) tonight, especially on their power play. They executed extremely well and we made some mistakes and then ended up paying for them."
Columbus is placed at the bottom of the Western Conference with 38 points after 56 games while Anaheim is ranked at 13th spot in the same conference with 53 points after 55 games.
Columbus is now going to face St. Louis Blues on Tuesday and Ducks will play against Minnesota Wild on the same day.
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