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Hiller stops 45 shots, Ducks shut out Bruins 3-0
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By Jimmy Golen, AP
December 21, 2010
Boston, MA — What Jonas Hiller liked best about his second shutout of the season was the way his defense helped him out.
“If we play like that every single game, with guys out there blocking shots, we’ve got a good chance to win,” the Anaheim goalie said Monday night after stopping 45 shots to lead the Ducks to a 3-0 victory over the Boston Bruins.
Rookie Brandon McMillan had his first career multipoint game to help Anaheim snap a two-game skid on a season-high seven-game road trip. Lubomir Visnovsky and Corey Perry also scored and Teemu Selanne had two assists for the Ducks, who play in Buffalo on Tuesday.
It was the eighth shutout of Hiller’s career.
“Jonas was in a zone and really stole the show,” Ducks forward Bobby Ryan said.
Tim Thomas made 22 saves for Boston but fell to 15-4-3 on the season. Three of his four regulation losses have come when the Bruins failed to score.
“Our goalies have been battling back there for us every night,” Boston forward Marc Savard said. “But we’ve got to give them some support.”
With the season not even halfway over, coach Claude Julien noted that the Bruins could have tied Northeast Division-leading Montreal with a victory and moved into third place in the Eastern Conference standings. Instead, Boston is in the eighth spot for a playoff race that won’t begin in earnest for another couple of months.
“When you’ve got a chance to move up five spots, it’s unacceptable,” Julien said. “This game’s about emotion. I think that’s the thing that really irked me. We should have been excited to play this game and move up five.”
McMillan doubled his career totals with one goal and one assist. He gave the Ducks the lead when he slammed home the rebound of Luca Sbisa’s shot less than 6 minutes into the game.
Anaheim made it 2-0 in the second when Selanne put a wrist shot on net and then followed his own rebound, swinging and missing with his backhand. But Visnovsky was right behind him, and he put it past Thomas.
Perry scored a short-handed goal to make it 3-0 with less than 5 minutes left in the second period, making a drag move in front of the net before beating Thomas on the stick side.
“It was kind of a weird game, from my perspective,” Thomas said. “Not a lot of action and then all of the sudden something funny will happen.”
The Bruins outshot Anaheim in every period—including 18-8 in the second— but still lost for the fourth time in five games. Boston beat Washington on Saturday to snap a season-high three-game losing streak.
“It’s been stale, our offense,” Savard said. “Claude’s trying. He can’t yell at us every single night. It’s on the guys in this room, too.”
NOTES: McMillan was sent down to Syracuse on Nov. 22 and recalled from the AHL two days later. … The Bruins have beaten Anaheim in regulation just once in their last nine games. … Anaheim D Andreas Lilja played in his 500th game, and Ryan Getzlaf played in game No. 400. … Ducks D Toni Lydman got hit in the face with a shot late in the first period, but he was back for the second. … Referee Dan O’Halloran was knocked to the ice when he got caught in the middle of a big Bruins hit. He was able to continue.
• NHL News Archive Index:
2010, 2009
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