If it wasn’t a tacit admission, it was certainly implied when goaltender Jeff Deslauriers led the Ducks onto the ice instead of Jonas Hiller to finally give the workhorse goalie a rare night of rest.
The Ducks are starting to look ahead, and the view beyond this disappointing season might not be too bad judging by how things went Monday night against the San Jose Sharks.
Youngsters Nick Bonino and Kyle Palmieri teamed with slightly grizzled veteran Bobby Ryan to take apart the Sharks, combining for two goals and six assists in powering the Ducks to a 5-3 victory at HP Pavilion that dealt a blow to San Jose’s playoff hopes.
It was just the second game together for the threesome, but it looked as if they had been playing together for years. Ryan had a goal and two assists, Bonino had a career-high three assists and Palmieri had a goal and an assist.
“Never had three points before so it feels good,” Bonino said. “You have games like that where it feels like you’re going to get six or seven points, especially playing with Bobby. Palmy’s been hot lately too. It was a lot of fun.”
Putting the trio together wasn’t the only good call made by Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, who decided to sit veterans Jason Blake and Niklas Hagman. Deslauriers got his second start of the season, his other coming on Jan. 10 against Dallas.
Deslauriers was shaky at first but won for the second time by making 27 saves after Hiller had started the previous 32 games. Boudreau said he waited until Monday morning to tell Deslauriers because “he might be a little nervous and not get a good sleep.”
“You might be stressed but you know you’re excited,” Deslauriers said. “You always look for that feeling. And you don’t want that feeling to go away. You need the butterflies to go out there and have fun.
“Just compete hard and stay focused on the job.”
The Ducks dealt a momentary blow to San Jose’s playoff hopes as Ryan and Francois Beauchemin helped forge a 2-2 tie after one period before chasing Sharks goalie Antti Niemi in the second with three tallies.
Corey Perry got his team-leading 35th and Nate Guenin got the second goal of his season and career for a 4-2 lead. Palmieri scored on a bad-angle shot to answer Joe Pavelski’s tip-in just 33 seconds later.
Marty Havlat, Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski scored for the Sharks, who could not improve their playoff positioning on a night their rivals were idle.
San Jose was in ninth place in the Western Conference but could have moved into third and took the Pacific Division lead with a win.
The Sharks struck first but twice allowed Anaheim to answer. San Jose lost for the third time in three home games this season against the Ducks. The Sharks have little room for error if they hope to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
