Ducks beat Oilers to stay in playoff hunt
Scott Niedermayer had a goal and two assists, and the Anaheim Ducks jumped above the postseason cutoff line in the Western Conference with a 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
Rob Niedermayer had a pair of goals, and Sheldon Brookbank and Chris Pronger also scored for the Ducks, who have won seven of eight to move into seventh place in the tight West race. The Ducks and Nashville both have 84 points.
Andrew Cogliano, Denis Grebeshkov and Zack Stortini scored for the Oilers, who have lost five of six to slip into a 10th-place tie with Minnesota - three points behind Anaheim and Nashville.
Edmonton took a 1-0 lead 10:04 in on the power play, as Ales Kotalik slid a pass through Pronger's legs to Cogliano, who roofed his shot past goalie Jonas Hiller for a 1-0 lead.
The Ducks tied it 4 minutes later when Ryan Getzlaf fed a pass through Kotalik's legs to Brookbank, who beat Dwayne Roloson for his first NHL goal.
Anaheim went ahead 2-1 just 33 seconds into the second period with a nice three-way passing play with a man-advantage. Teemu Selanne sent a pass to Scott Niedermayer, who beat Roloson glove side.
The Ducks pushed the lead to 3-1 at 5:13 of the second with another power-play goal. Pronger scored on a shot from the point while Edmonton's Tom Gilbert serving a double-minor for high-sticking Bobby Ryan.
Anaheim looked to have put the game out of reach late in the second when Scott Niedermayer dished the puck to Rob at the top of the circle, and his high shot seemed to catch Roloson off guard to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes.
Edmonton made a game of it in the closing minutes with goals 68 seconds apart. Grebeshkov pinched deep and sent a rebound through Hiller's legs with 3:27 to play, and Stortini scored when Roloson was off for an extra attacker.
Edmonton called for a stick measurement but received a penalty themselves when it was deemed legal, leading to a power-play, empty-net goal by Rob Niedermayer.
Notes: Roloson made his 33rd consecutive start and became the oldest goalie in NHL history to appear in at least 60 games, doing it at 39. ... The Ducks started the season without much recent success in Edmonton, with wins in just two of 16, but Anaheim won both visits this season. ... Oilers D Theo Peckham was inserted into the lineup to replace fellow defenseman Ladislav Smid, who will miss the remainder of the season because of a broken hand sustained Sunday during a loss to Minnesota. ... The Ducks were missing D Bret Hedican (back spasms).
