The Anaheim Ducks and the Edmonton Oilers are both near the bottom of the NHL standings, though they seem to be headed in opposite directions.
Jonas Hiller stopped 33 shots for his second shutout of the season and Corey Perry scored twice as the Ducks beat the struggling Oilers 5-0 on Friday night for their fourth win in five games. Jason Blake, Teemu Selanne and Bobby Ryan also scored and Ryan Getzlaf had four assists.
Selanne, who also had an assist, said it was probably the best game Anaheim has played all season.
''I didn't see one bad play out there today,'' he said. ''It was overall a very solid effort by everybody. It was the best game we've played all season. We're gaining so much confidence as a team right now.
''The last four or five games, that's the way we were supposed to have played all season. Hopefully we can keep pushing, and you never know.''
Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano also feels like his squad is on the upswing, moving one point behind Edmonton for 13th place in the Western Conference and 12 behind Calgary and Edmonton for 11th.
''All four lines are contributing every game,'' he said. ''We are really starting to click now. We're obviously quite a few points back. But the more we've starting winning and feeling good about ourselves, I feel like this a team gaining momentum.''
The Oilers are going in the opposite direction, having lost five straight and 12 of their last 14.
Oilers head coach Tom Renney was clearly upset with his team's effort on the night.
''I'm not sure what Anaheim did in the game was all that spectacular. We were just brutal,'' he said. ''They don't feel real good about themselves at the moment and they shouldn't.
''The thing I don't like is that I don't see ice bags and guys sore from really gutting it out and doing everything they possibly can to win a hockey game.''
Nikolai Khabibulin gave up three goals on 14 shots and was replaced midway through the second period by Devan Dubnyk, who allowed two goals on the 14 shots he faced.
The Ducks started the scoring eight minutes into the first period as Cam Fowler fed the puck to Blake in the slot and he sent it past Khabibulin for his first goal of the season.
''I've just been trying to get my legs underneath me,'' said Blake, who missed 34 games this season with a laceration on his wrist. ''Missing that many games is not easy. I'm just glad to get that goal off my back.''
Anaheim made it 2-0 early in the second period on a power-play goal as Selanne swung behind the net and backhanded the puck in front, getting some luck as it hit Khabibulin and bounced behind him. It was Selanne's 15th goal of the season.
It appeared the Oilers had quickly responded as Anton Lander lifted a puck over Hiller. However, the goal was called off because of an early whistle on the play.
Edmonton's frustrations came to a peak a few minutes later as Sam Gagner got into a rare fight with Anaheim's Francois Beauchemin in response to a hit the Ducks' defenseman had made on Taylor Hall.
Anaheim went up 3-0 midway through the second period on another bad goal as Getzlaf made a nice pass to set up Ryan, whose shot from the side of the net somehow got past Khabibulin.
Khabibulin was then replaced by Dubnyk with 9:06 left in the second. Less than three minutes later, Dubnyk stopped Perry on a breakaway but bobbled the shot, allowing the Ducks winger to put away his own rebound.
Perry closed the scoring on a power play with 2:42 left as Selanne's centering pass from the right of the net deflected off his stick and into the net for his team-leading 20th goal.
NOTES: Taylor Hall, the first-overall draft pick in the 2010 NHL entry draft, played in his 100th game for the Oilers. ... With backup G Dan Ellis expected to miss at least a month with a groin muscle tear, former Oilers G Jeff Deslauriers has taken his place on the Ducks. ... The Oilers were missing several key players including Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle, as well as defensemen Tom Gilbert, Ryan Whitney and Cam Barker. ... The Ducks are 7-9-3 since Bruce Boudreau took over as coach on Nov. 30.
