In Anaheim Friday, it was a tale of two teams suddenly going in opposite directions.
The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Arizona Coyotes, 5-2, to take their sixth straight win.
Corey Perry scored early in the third to give the Ducks a 3-2 lead.
Patrick Maroon, Hampus Lindholm, Mike Santorelli, Andrew Cogliano also scored for the Ducks.
“It just seems like a lot of parts of our game is coming together,” Cogliano said. “Offensively we’ve been playing good but I think it starts with playing really strong defensively. We’ve been playing really strong in our end and moving the puck out really fast and it just seems like it’s been creating offensive for us.”
The return of Cam Fowler to the blue line has been a big lift for the Ducks as they solidify a defense that was playing well already. But now the offense is coming along.
“If you don’t work at it, it can shut off as quick as it’s been turned on,” coach Bruce Boudreau said of his team’s sudden scoring surge. “It’s something that we have to continually focus on and when we’re at practice, shoot to score and go to the nets and do the right things. Eventually, they’ll continue to win out.”
Tobias Rieder and Shane Doan were the goal scorers for the Coyotes.
“It was a huge week for us,” Maroon said. “Our goal was to win the week and we won the week. But that week is over now and we’ve got a 13-day road trip that is going to very, very hard. We’re all excited about it but we’ve just got to continue what we’re doing and keep having fun.”
The Ducks are now seven games over the .500 mark and are putting pressure on the San Jose Sharks for the second seed in the Pacific.
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