Music: {allcanada} Lovejoy scores two, leads Ducks past Oilers

Friday, January 3, 2014

{allcanada} Lovejoy scores two, leads Ducks past Oilers

ANAHEIM – So far, 2014 has been one big bundle of joy for Ben Lovejoy and the Anaheim Ducks.

Lovejoy's wife, Avery, gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter, Lila, the morning of a New Year's Eve win against the San Jose Sharks. Three nights later, Lovejoy recorded his first career two-goal game Friday in a 5-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Honda Center.

Lovejoy scored in a span of 2:43 of the first period and Jonas Hiller won a franchise record 10th straight game. Anaheim remains the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss at home (16-0-2).

Edmonton came out trading scoring chances with Anaheim, but gave the Ducks 15:40 minutes worth of power-play time and was outshot 14-3 in the second period and 37-18 for the game. The top line of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and David Perron were a combined minus-10.

Oilers right wing Jordan Eberle did not play after he reportedly hurt his knee Thursday night in a collision with Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks.

Lovejoy's first-period goals were both one-timers off drop passes from the right point on a rush. Kyle Palmieri made an 80-foot pass to Saku Koivu to set up Lovejoy's first goal at 17:12, with Andrew Cogliano screening Edmonton goalie Ilya Bryzgalov (32 saves).

Lovejoy's second goal was a blast that banked in off the left post at 19:55 for a 3-2 lead going into first intermission. It was the fastest two goals by a defenseman in Anaheim history after Tom Kurvers scored two in 2:59 in 1995.

It wasn't the best first period for Anaheim, which was sloppy in its end and allowed goals by Boyd Gordon 35 seconds into the game and Nail Yakupov at 11:06 after a turnover by Ryan Getzlaf.

Hiller (16 saves) didn't get much work; Edmonton had eight shots on goal in the final 40 minutes. He is the first goalie to win 10 straight starts since Ray Emery early last season.

For the second straight game, Anaheim got a solid game from its fourth line. Tim Jackman was rewarded when he lifted Nick Bonino's pass from behind the goal into the net at 19:16 of the second to make it 4-2.

It was Jackman's first goal as a Duck, and it came after he was scratched in three of the previous four games. Palmieri scored unassisted off a Nugent-Hopkins turnover 11 seconds after Gordon's goal. Cogliano scored on a breakaway at 11:16 of the third.

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