Ducks 6, Sharks 2
All-Star Corey Perry reached the 50-goal plateau with his third career hat trick as the Anaheim Ducks cruised to a 6-2 home victory over the Pacific Division champion San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
Rookie defenseman Cam Fowler and Teemu Selanne each notched a goal and an assist, captain Ryan Getzlaf collected four assists and Jason Blake also scored for the Ducks (45-30-5), who posted their 13th win in 18 games and remained in seventh place in the Western Conference with two contests remaining.
All-Star defenseman Dan Boyle and Ben Eager tallied while Antero Niittymaki made 28 saves in his first start since Jan. 13 for San Jose (47-24-9), which had its four-game winning streak snapped and lost in regulation for the first time in 10 games (8-1-1).
Entering with a league-leading 47 goals, Perry opened the scoring with a backhander at 12:58 of the first period that extended his point streak to 10 games. He gave Anaheim a 3-0 lead at 6:46 of the second and completed his third three-goal effort of the season during a two-man advantage 4:11 later with his 19th tally in 14 contests.
The four-point performance gave Perry 97 on the season, putting him three behind Vancouver's Daniel Sedin in the race for the Art Ross Trophy.