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ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP)—The Anaheim Ducks found a way to bounce back—literally.

nhl/players/1341/”>Saku Koivu(notes) blocked a pass from Bruno Gervais(notes) that bounced off his stick and
helmet, and turned the carom into a breakaway goal 14 seconds into overtime as
the Ducks rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit to beat the New York
Islanders 5-4 on Friday night.

“I was lucky that it hit my shaft, and then my helmet, and I was lucky
enough to get that breakaway,” Koivu said.

It was the third straight win for the Ducks after five losses following the
Olympic break.

Lubomir Visnovsky(notes) scored two goals, including one to tie it with 32 seconds
left in regulation, as the Ducks erased a 4-2 deficit over the final 10:07.

Koivu said that with Teemu Selanne(notes) defending the center of the ice, Gervais
“had nowhere else to go but to push the puck on the board side.”

Islanders coach Scott Gordon was not willing to dismiss the play as a simple
matter of good fortune for the Ducks.

“It was a play that shouldn’t have been made,” Gordon said. “We had
another option. Bad break or not, it wasn’t a play that had to be made.”

The Islanders led 4-2 after John Taveras’ goal with 5:29 left in the second
period. Anaheim cut it to 4-3 with 9:53 left in the third, scoring on the power
play as Jason Blake(notes) deflected in a shot by Steve Eminger(notes).

The Ducks tied it when Selanne fed Visnovsky for a blast from near the blue
line after pulling Curtis McElhinney(notes)

“I thought they were going to clear it,” Selanne said, “but I got it back
and just passed it. And he’s got a laser, that guy. It’s unreal how he’s
shooting the puck.”

Visnovsky has 15 goals, second among NHL defensemen. It was his first
two-goal game since Dec. 29, 2006, when he played for Los Angeles.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Islanders, who are six
points out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 11 games
remaining.

“We’re a little overmatched physically against a big team,” Gordon said.
“It took a couple seeing-eye shots to beat us. … For the most part, we
defended well. We were in the right places, but two shots made the different in
them being able to tie it up.”

Kyle Okposo(notes) snapped a 2-2 tie for New York at 2:42 of the second period, 7
seconds into the night’s first power play, when his shot from the left side
trickled through the pads of Jonas Hiller(notes). That prompted Anaheim coach Randy
Carlyle to replace Hiller, who stopped 14 of 17 shots, with McElhinney.

“I just didn’t think that Jonas was handling the puck,” Carlyle said.
“The puck seemed to be coming off him right back to the front of the net. … I
thought the bright spot was that Curtis McElhinney came in and shut the door. He
let one goal in, but it was a power-play goal where we should have had better
coverage.”

That goal, a backhander from the slot through traffic, the third goal in two
games for Taveras. He followed a five-point night in Tuesday’s 5-2 win at
Vancouver with two points Friday.

McElhinney made 13 saves in his second appearance with Anaheim since
arriving in a trade with Calgary on March 3.

The Islanders took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period on a goal by
Richard Park(notes). Anaheim answered with goals from Matt Belesky and Visnovsky, but
the period ended in a 2-2 tie when Okposo circled the net and attempted to pass
to Sean Bergenheim(notes), only to have the puck carom in off the skate of Visnovsky.

Selanne remained one goal shy of 600 for his career, two games after scoring
his 599th against San Jose. He’s looking to become the 18th NHL player, and the
third from Europe, to reach the 600-goal mark. He failed to score on six shots.

“He had lots of chances,” said Carlyle, who thought his players were
trying too hard to set Selanne up for the milestone. “We had a little
discussion on the bench that there’s so many games left, it’s not an issue. He’s
going to get it.”

NOTES: It was Anaheim’s first game since defenseman James Wisniewski(notes)
received an eight-game suspension for a hit to the head of Chicago’s Brent
Seabrook(notes) on Wednesday. Eminger filled Wisniewski’s spot in the lineup. … Ryan
Getzlaf(notes) returned for Anaheim after missing one game with an ankle injury. …
Okposo was back for the Islanders after missing the game in Vancouver with an
undisclosed injury. … The Islanders last played in Anaheim on Oct. 11, 2006,
when they won 5-4 in a shootout.

CALGARY, Alberta (AP)—Mikael Backlund(notes) was able to laugh off an embarrassing
mistake that almost let the nhl/teams/san/”>San Jose Sharks back in the game.

The Calgary rookie set up second-period goals by Nigel Dawes(notes) and Eric
Nystrom(notes), and the Flames held on to defeat the struggling Sharks 4-3 on Friday
night.

Backlund’s two assists came two minutes apart as Calgary opened up a 4-1
lead in the second period, but it was his mistake that helped San Jose get back
into it in a wild third period.

While attempting to shovel the puck against Miikka Kiprusoff(notes) for a stoppage,
Backlund accidentally slid the puck under the Flames goalie and across the
crease—where it was whacked into the empty net by Manny Malhotra(notes).

“We just had a shift and then we had an icing, so I had to stay out there
and I was just so tired,” Backlund said. “We finally got the puck and I was
just trying to get it to Kipper to freeze it. It was a little embarrassing, but
nothing you can do about it.”

Jarome Iginla(notes) and Daymond Langkow(notes) also scored for Calgary, which has won six
of its last eight to get into the Western Conference playoff hunt.

Dan Boyle(notes) and Dany Heatley(notes) had the other goals for the Sharks, who have lost
four in a row in regulation. Their lead atop the Pacific Division has been cut
to three points by the Phoenix Coyotes, with 11 games remaining for both.

“Phoenix is on a bit of hot streak right now, but we’re still first in the
Western Conference and if anything, we’ve got to look at it that way,” Sharks
forward Ryane Clowe(notes) said. “We’re obviously a good hockey team. We’ve put
ourselves into a good position. We just have to get out of this and bounce
back.”

San Jose also remains tied with Chicago for the top spot in the Western
Conference.

“As coaches, we’re walking a fine line right now whether we’re kicking or
hugging,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “I think some guys need a kick and
I think some guys need a hug, and we’re finding out which ones need which.”

With the Sharks’ Evgeni Nabokov(notes) pulled for an extra skater, Boyle scored
with 1:51 left to set up the wild finish.

The Flames are tied with Detroit for the final playoff spot in the Western
Conference after the Red Wings lost to Edmonton 2-1 in a shootout Friday night.

Things have been especially bad for San Jose on the road of late. The Sharks
have dropped six of their last seven away from home since an eight-game road
winning streak.

“Teams see that we’ve lost four or five games in a row and any time that
happens, a team is vulnerable,” McLellan said. “You can feel the confidence in
our room isn’t what it should be or can be, but we’ve got to earn that back.”

With Calgary leading 2-1, Nabokov got his pad on Backlund’s hard shot, but
Dawes was right there to backhand in his 11th goal and first in 21 games. It had
been over three months since Dawes’ last goal on Dec. 17.

Nystrom’s goal was similar, again coming on Backlund’s rebound. This time,
the young Swede took a pass from Jamal Mayers(notes) and again pounded a shot on goal,
with Nystrom sweeping in the rebound for his ninth goal.

“Before the game, I heard (Nabokov) was a little shaky on his pads, so they
told us put the pucks on net,” Backlund said. “I was trying to get pucks to
the net and it worked out pretty good. I was happy to see those guys put the
rebounds in.”

Backlund, who turned 21 on Wednesday, had been a healthy scratch the past
six games before getting into the lineup against the Sharks due to an injury to
Curtis Glencross(notes). His first career multipoint game gave him a goal and four
assists in 12 games.

Kiprusoff made 25 saves, while Nabokov had 20.

“We’re a little big fragile, we’re a little bit on our heels, but it’s
those timely stops that’s killing us,” Nabokov said. “I have to work hard to
make those saves for the guys.”

One of the loudest moments of the night came in the final seconds of the
second period when Iginla fought with Clowe. The spirited scrap drew a standing
ovation from the sellout crowd of 19,289, which chanted “Iggy! Iggy! Iggy!”

The Flames got off to a fast start, taking advantage of a pair of defensive
lapses to take a 2-0 lead nine minutes in.

“As a group, we’re not playing very well,” Heatley said.

NOTES: San Jose last lost four in a row in regulation Feb. 28 to March 7 of
last season. The Sharks also went winless in five games earlier in the season
from Dec. 3-12. … Glencross (knee) joined Chris Higgins (lower body) on the
sideline. … San Jose had fired 33 or more shots on goal in six of its previous
seven games. … Since returning from the Olympics, Nabokov has surrendered 26
goals in eight starts. … When Dawes last scored, he was tied for second on the
team in goals. He now ranks seventh.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—The Columbus Blue Jackets needed their captain to make a
big play.

So, nhl/players/3153/”>Rick Nash(notes) went out and won them a game.

Nash scored two third-period goals in his return from an injury that
sidelined him four games, and the Blue Jackets overcame a two-goal deficit
Friday night to hand the Minnesota Wild a costly 4-2 loss.

“(Nash) obviously made a big difference tonight,” said goalie Mathieu
Garon(notes), who moved to 6-0-3 at home this season while making 18 saves. “He’s a
great leader and he showed it again. In the third, he took care of things.”

The Wild came into the game in 11th place and six points behind eighth-place
Detroit in the Western Conference playoff race. Instead of getting two points,
they came away with none after blowing leads of 2-0 in the second period and 2-1
with 9 minutes left.

“It was definitely a disappointing loss,” said Minnesota center Casey
Wellman(notes), who made his NHL debut. “They ended up getting a few good chances that
they capitalized on.”

Long eliminated from the playoff picture themselves, the Blue Jackets have
to take heart in ruining the postseason hopes of others.

“We’re making the right moves. Obviously, it’s a bit late,” Nash said of
the Blue Jackets, undone by a bad spell in which they won just three times in 24
games midway through the season. “Momentum from the end of this year can really
carry on to next year.”

It was just the third time the Blue Jackets have won this season (3-22-4)
when trailing through two periods.

“The motivation is playing for the fans—making sure we make things
exciting for them,” Nash said.

Nash’s shootout-like goal came just 27 seconds after Kris Russell(notes) tied it.
Nash, who was sidelined with a lower-body injury, then added an empty-netter in
the final minute. Kristian Huselius(notes) also scored for Columbus, which has won four
of five.

Mikko Koivu(notes) and Chuck Kobasew(notes) had goals for the Wild, who have dropped two
in a row after a three-game winning streak.

Trailing 2-1 with 8:58 left, the Blue Jackets pulled even on a play that
infuriated the Wild. Huselius left a drop pass for Russell, who was trailing the
play, and his hard slap shot slipped past R.J. Umberger(notes), who was providing
traffic in front of goalie Josh Harding(notes).

“It was a great play by (Huselius). He kind of looked toward the net and
got everybody thinking he was going there, and then just laid it nice and flat
for me to walk into it,” Russell said. “It was a great job by R.J. getting the
screen. I don’t think the goalie had too much of a chance to see it.”

But the Wild felt Umberger interfered with Harding.

“If you watch it on tape, Umberger skates in and he’s in the crease,” Wild
coach Todd Richards said. “Josh goes to make the save and he’s not allowed to.
They said that (Nick Schultz(notes)) had made contact with (Umberger), but when you
watch it, you can see that (Umberger) skated in there all by himself.”

Harding was perplexed by the non-call.

“Maybe I need to read the rule book and see what is considered goalie
interference,” he said. “I had nowhere to go.”

Before the tying goal could be announced, Nash took a pass from Jake Voracek
in the neutral zone—while defenseman Cam Barker(notes) was heading to the bench to
get a replacement stick. With no one close, Nash skated in on Harding, faked and
then scored on a soft shot that went between Harding’s leg pads.

The Wild, who dropped to 22-7-2 when scoring first, grabbed a 2-0 lead on
goals by Mikko Koivu and Chuck Kobasew.

Umberger made a huge play late in the second period. Garon was down and out
of position with Wellwood bearing down on him, but Umberger was able to block
the puck with his skates to Garon, who covered it.

NOTES: The Blue Jackets wrapped up a four-game homestand. … Minnesota is
7-6-0 in the second half of back-to-back games. … Since both clubs joined the
NHL in the 2000-2001 season, Columbus is 276-356-33-62 with one playoff
appearance and Minnesota is 327-285-55-59 with three trips to the playoffs. …
Wild D Justin Falk(notes), making his NHL debut, suffered a concussion in the second
period and didn’t return. … Columbus C Andrew Murray(notes) appeared to hurt a knee
late in the game and went to the dressing room.