Ducks fully exploit scoring burst

About two-thirds of the way into the second period, the red light inadvertently went on behind the Nashville net as the Ducks were applying pressure in the Predators’ zone.

Perhaps the goal judge had an itchy trigger finger. It was easy to assume another puck would find the net as a result of the Ducks’ offensive onslaught.

Four goals in an 8:07 span took care of the Predators on Monday night as the Ducks finally escaped a sea of tight games with a 5-2 victory at the Honda Center.

It was their biggest output since a 5-2 win Dec. 22 at San Jose. Five of the six games they played since then were decided by one goal, with the Ducks winning three despite mustering only 12 goals over that span.

So they could appreciate the relative breather as they built a three-goal lead and held on.

“Hopefully it continues,” Ducks forward Corey Perry said. “It was one of those games where the puck bounced and went in for us. We needed a game like that to take the monkey off our back a little bit.”

Travis Moen started the outburst with his second goal of the season and Perry closed it with his team-leading 22nd.

In between were scores by Chris Kunitz and Chris Pronger as the Ducks easily erased a 1-0 deficit after the first period.

Perry, Kunitz and Ryan Getzlaf each had a goal and an assist. Getzlaf, who has four goals in his last five games, extended his point scoring streak to eight games, tying a career high set earlier this season.

“Hopefully this is a convincing effort from our players to convince themselves how we have to play to have success,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said. “And it’s not easy.

“There’s a lot of work and a lot of commitment that has to take place.”

Since the Ducks added Scott Niedermayer and Doug Weight to their lineup, they’ve gone 7-2-2 to pull within two points of San Jose and Dallas for first place in the Pacific Division.

“That’s our goal, to keep gaining those points,” Perry said. “Every game is a huge game for us. We know how much the points mean.”

The Ducks blew it open when they took full advantage of a two-man advantage created when Nashville’s Dam Hamhuis and Scott Nichol took penalties 1:35 apart.

Pronger ripped in a slapshot with Hamhuis still serving his penalty which allowed the Ducks to get another power play opportunity with Nichol still needing to serve 1:46 of his penalty.

Perry converted on a one-timer that got between the legs of Predators goalie Dan Ellis.

“Whenever you get a five-on-three, you hope to capitalize no matter how long it is,” Perry said. “The guys on the ice did that. We’ve been talking about it and preaching that when we get the advantage, we have to take advantage and we did that tonight.”

Moen started it all when he banged in a rebound of a shot by Sean O’Donnell for his first goal since the second game of the season when the Ducks beat the Kings in London.

As the winger talked to a group of reporters, Brad May ribbed Moen by asking him “How many is that?” and Todd Bertuzzi cracked, “One in Europe and one in North America.”

“It had been a while so it’s nice to finally get one,” Moen said. “I’ve been getting some [chances].

“I’ve been hitting them off the crossbar and posts.”

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