Ducks avenge opening London loss

By Paul Woloszyn

Parros and Thornton had a minor disagreement in the final period

The Anaheim Ducks bounced back from their opening-day defeat against the Los Angeles Kings to win 4-1 in the second game in London this weekend.

The Stanley Cup champions, beaten 4-1 on Saturday at the 02 Arena, were in control after Corey Perry and Chris Kunitz scored in the first period.

Perry and Travis Moen then secured the Ducks' first win of the season despite Mike Cammalleri's consolation effort.

The games are the first regular season NHL matches ever staged in Europe.

The biggest cheer of the game from the second 17,500 capacity crowd of the weekend was reserved for George Parros and Scott Thornton as they went toe-to-toe midway through the second period.

The contest could only be scored a draw as both players ended down on the ice.

The action-packed nature of the opening 40 minutes could not be sustained into the final 20 however as both teams failed to add to the scoring, giving the Ducks their first win since they claimed the Cup in June against the Ottawa Senators.

Reeling from their defeat on Saturday night, the Ducks came out hard and once again Todd Bertuzzi became the first man in the penalty box, for high-sticking on Derek Armstrong.

It was the Kings who were responsible for a flurry of early penalties however and they were made to pay on 10:49 as the Ducks got their first 'home' goal of the season.

We've seen two entertaining games, two games with sell-out crowds in a wonderful venue and some inspired hockey Kings coach Marc Crawford

Perry managed to squeeze the puck between netminder Jason Labarbera and the post to give the champions the lead.

Labarbera earned a starting place ahead of Jonathan Bernier despite the 19-year-old's impressive display on Saturday. Indeed, the Ducks also made a change in the net as Jonas Hiller replaced Ilja Bryzgalov.

Labarbera was certainly the busier of the two as the Ducks dominated the opening session, outshooting their California rivals 9-6.

They would turn this into a two-goal lead by the end of the period as they scored their second powerplay goal - Kunitz getting a replica of the first on 15:19.

The Ducks continued where they left off in the second period, taking the game away from their Western Conference rivals with two more strikes in the space of two minutes.

First Perry got his second, turning in a rebound on 22:53, before Moen turned the puck high into the net from in front on 24:10.

The Kings did not drop their heads however and Cammalleri added to his two Saturday goals with an effort on 28:57 to give them a lifeline.

Lifted by the goal they continued to rally but found Hiller, only the fourth Swiss netminder to play in the NHL, on top form.

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle was delighted how his team came back from their defeat on Saturday. He said: "I didn't think it was a lack of effort last night, it was a lack of execution.

Reflecting on the team's week in London, he added: "We were in a first-class facility in a wonderful city and the experience has got to be a positive one for us.

"We've had a chance to do some team bonding with our group and we'll travel back and go to Detroit."

His counterpart Marc Crawford agreed about the success of the experience, saying: "I think that this was a really good week in the season.

"We've obviously not pleased with the result tonight but if you look at the big picture we've seen two entertaining games, two games with sell-out crowds in a wonderful venue and some inspired hockey from both teams."