Anaheim's Club Record 56 Shots Lift Ducks Past Senators 4-1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The eggplant-and-teal jerseys took the Anaheim Ducks back to their franchise's founding year.
The record-setting offensive performance suggested the Ducks' mightiest days could be right in front of them.
Corey Perry scored two goals, Jonas Hiller made 30 saves, and the Ducks beat Bobby Ryan and the Ottawa Senators 4-1 Sunday night for their fourth straight victory.
Captain Ryan Getzlaf and Nick Bonino also scored for the Ducks, who were Mighty again on a throwback night celebrating the 20th anniversary of the franchise's 1993 debut. Wearing their colorful original jerseys, the Ducks racked up a franchise-record 56 shots against the Senators, who lost their fourth straight.
Anaheim has fielded its share of eye-catching teams over the past two decades, but these Ducks are confident they could be as good as any of them after outscoring their last four opponents 17-6.
"That's the way we want to play," Perry said. "We want to put as many pucks on the net as possible. Good things happen when you do that. If we start like that, we're going to be successful. We're going to play that quick game, we're going to forecheck, and get better every single game."
Anaheim surpassed its previous club record of 54 shots, set in March 2009 against Edmonton. Ottawa also set a franchise record for shots allowed, surpassing the 51 shots yielded twice before.
Rookie defenseman Hampus Lindholm had two assists for his first NHL points for the Ducks, who followed up their 6-0 embarrassment of the New York Rangers last Thursday with another demolition of an Eastern Conference team.
"I was really proud they came out and did the same thing," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They're moving their legs, and it's tough to keep up with them right now."
Craig Anderson allowed two goals on the Ducks' first nine shots before Robin Lehner replaced him just 4:06 into the first period. Lehner stopped 45 shots for the Senators, who yielded 50 shots at the Shark Tank one night earlier.
"It's a little bit worse," Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said. "It is two nights in a row. You give up over 50 shots, you hang your goalie out right from the start of the game. We're not very good. We need to go back to square one and find something to hang our hat on. Right now the only thing we have is goaltenders, and we make them work too hard."
Hiller improved to 3-0 with several outstanding saves while wearing a throwback mask painted with the Ducks' old logo and a cartoon version of Wild Wing, the Ducks' mascot.
"I felt a little bad for (Lehner)," Hiller said. "Thought it could have been an even higher score."
Ryan scored his 150th career goal amid boos from the sellout crowd in his first game back in Anaheim since the Ducks traded the high-scoring forward last summer.
The Ducks' former No. 2 overall pick had four 30-goal seasons in Anaheim before the club shipped him to Ottawa in an apparent cost-cutting move. Anaheim landed promising forward Jakob Silfverberg, who went scoreless against his former team on his 23rd birthday after scoring four goals in the Ducks' first four games.
Ryan, who had publicly expressed discontent with the Ducks in the past, was greeted with mostly boos -- even more when he scored late in the first period on a sharp cross-ice pass from Kyle Turris.
"We were down 2-0 early," Ryan said. "If you don't change the way you play against a team like that, that is playing pretty well, you're not going to have any success."
Anaheim had 11 shots and two goals in the first five minutes alone. Ottawa allowed 24 shots in the first period in Anaheim after yielding 24 in the third period of Saturday night's 3-2 loss in San Jose.
Perry scored from the slot just 27 seconds in on a pass from Patrick Maroon, and Getzlaf added another less than four minutes later on a setup from Lindholm. After Ryan's goal, Ottawa trailed just 2-1 despite the Ducks' 24 shots, a franchise record for a first period.
But Lindholm made an exceptional backhand, cross-ice pass to set up Perry's second goal in the second. Bonino put Anaheim up 4-1 when he lost a faceoff to Jean-Gabriel Pageau, yet still controlled the puck and put a snap shot past Lehner.
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