Sunday, February 24, 2002
Parssinen powers Ducks in OT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Timo Parssinen scored a power-play goal 3:13 into overtime to lift the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks to a 4-3 victory over the Houston Aeros in the AHL Saturday night at Cincinnati Gardens.
Yuri Butsayev, Travis Brigley and Steve Brule also scored for the Ducks, who snapped a four-game winless streak (0-3-1-0) and moved to within two points of first-place Syracuse in the Central Division.
Cory Larose scored with 2:30 left in the third period to force overtime for Houston, which fell to 1-1-1-1 through the first four games of a five-game road trip.
Jason Elliott stopped 35 shots for the Ducks, including four in overtime, to gain the win.
Derek Gustafson made 21 saves in the losing effort.
The Ducks play the fifth game of a seven-game homestand against Milwaukee at 7:35 p.m. Wednesday.
• QUACKS: Former Cincinnati Mighty Ducks center Andy McDonald has emerged as one of the top rookies in the NHL this season for the parent Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
He has a seven-game point streak (2-7-9), the longest by a rookie this season and longest since New Jersey's Scott Gomez had an eight-game point streak in December of 1999.
McDonald, who was recalled by Anaheim at the end of November, leads all NHL rookie centers in assists and points (6-19-25) since Dec.1. Over the same stretch, he ranks third in points among all first-year players in the league.
McDonald, who had seven goals
and 32 points in 21 games with Cincinnati this season, has recorded 22 points in his last 27 games (6-16-22).
“When I came up, the team was struggling,” McDonald said. “I was still nervous at that point. It takes a lot to get going and play the game that you're capable of playing. It's starting to get a little better, but there are still some things I've got to work on.”
Only Ilya Kovalchuk (0.83) and Dany Heatley (0.81) of the Atlanta Thrashers have a higher points-per-game ratio than McDonald (0.71) among NHL rookies.
Houston ....... 0-0-3-0-3
Cincinnati ....... 0-2-1-1-4
First period: No scoring.
Second period: 1. Cin, Butsayev 19 (Niemi, Roche), 16:55 (ppg). 2. Cin, Brigley 18 (Edinger, Richardson), 18:43.
Third period: 3. Hou, Cavanaugh 3 (Virta, Murphy), 2:19.4. Hou, Virta 24 (Murphy), 10:26 (ppg).5. Cin, Brule 16 (Parssinen, Williams), 13:06.6. Hou, Larose 24 (Carter, Murphy), 17:30. Overtime: 7. Cin, Parssinen 12 (Brigley, Ronnqvist), 3:13 (ppg).
Shots on goal: Houston 10-8-16-4=38; Cin 4-9-7-5=25 Power-play opportunities: Hou 1-for-5; Cincinnati 2-for-4. Goaltenders: Houston, Gustafson (25 shots, 21 saves; record 11-10-6); Cin, Elliott (38 shots, 35 saves; 10-11-4). Dunne.
Attendance: 8,208.
Records: Hou 28-20-8-4; Cin 27-21-7-3.
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Parssinen powers Ducks in OT
