ANAHEIM, Calif. Josh McCown Red Jersey . -- Ryan Getzlaf has been shooting the puck more this season, and its been paying off for himself and his teammates. Getzlaf put Anaheim ahead to stay in the final minute of the first period with his career-high 26th goal, and Corey Perry, Patrick Maroon and Daniel Winnik also scored as the Ducks beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 Thursday night. Getzlaf, in the first season of an eight-year, $66 million contract extension he signed last March, scored 25 goals during the Ducks 2006-07 Stanley Cup championship season and matched that total in 2008-09. "If he shoots the puck, hes going to score. And he shoots the puck a lot -- a lot more than hes done in the past. So consequently, hes getting goals," coach Bruce Boudreau said in reference to Getzlafs 136 shots on net. The Ducks captain also recorded his second career "Gordie Howe hat trick" -- a goal, an assist, and a fight with Steve Downie. "He said to me earlier that I owed him one from that first game of the season when we fought and he was with Colorado," Getzlaf said. "So he asked me to go, and I thought it an OK time for me to do it." Saku Koivu added an empty-net goal and Frederik Andersen made 27 saves, helping the Ducks improve their NHL-leading record to 40-11-5 and their home mark to 22-2-2. They have won 22 of their last 26 games, and are off to the best start in franchise history. Winnik gave Anaheim a 4-2 lead with a short-handed goal, the ninth allowed this season by the Flyers -- tying Edmonton for the league lead. Koivu broke up a pass in the Ducks zone and went off on a 2-on-1 break with Winnik, who beat Steve Mason to the glove side with 7:34 remaining while teammate Hampus Lindholm was off for high-sticking Claude Giroux. "The way they play on the power play, they get four guys down below the hash marks after a shot," Winnik said after his first goal since Oct. 10. "It was something we knew going into the game, so we felt there could be chances that way and we were fortunate to get one tonight. It felt really good. It was a long time coming. Its nice to get that pressure off me." Andersen is 13-2-0 in his first 15 NHL starts, and hasnt allowed more than three goals in any of them. He has a 1.94 goals-against average, including a two-period relief stint in his NHL debut on Oct. 20, when he earned a 6-3 win in relief against Dallas by stopping all 24 shots he faced after Jonas Hiller left with a 3-1 deficit. "Our depth at goaltending has been outstanding, and when Freddies played hes been unbelievable," Getzlaf said. "Hes a big kid and for a young guy, he plays really calm in the net. Hes not too active, and thats a good sign. Hes a goalie that settles things down back there." Vincent Lecavalier, Matt Read and Michael Raffl scored for the Flyers, and Mason stopped 23 shots following his 33-save shutout against Detroit on Tuesday at Philadelphia. The Flyers are 3-6-2 in their last 11 games following a 7-1-0 stretch. "It was a pretty physical game," Boudreau said. "They were trying to push us around, but I thought we did a pretty good job of standing up for ourselves." Philadelphia came in averaging a league-worst 15.9 penalty minutes, but it was the Ducks who couldnt stay out of the box during the first period as the Flyers cashed in on one of three power plays. Lecavalier beat Andersen through the pads with a 25-foot wrist shot from the right circle, tying it at 1 with 3 seconds left on Matt Beleskeys interference penalty. Getzlaf regained the lead for Anaheim parking himself at the edge of the crease and redirecting Lindholms 50-foot slap shot past Mason with 36 seconds left in the period. Perry made it 3-1 at 10:29 of the second, beating Mason to the glove side from the low slot after getting a cross-ice pass from Getzlaf. The Ducks are 9-0-1 this season when Getzlaf and Perry score goals in the same game, and 23-3-4 under those circumstances since Feb. 1, 2010. "There wasnt a single clean shot from the point the entire night," Mason said. "They did a great job of getting sticks on it, bodies in front. When you have a team like that, it makes it difficult to stop pucks. We controlled a lot of the play, but they were able to get two deflections in there. For the most part, we did a pretty good job." Read scored his 14th goal with 14:12 remaining, after Mark Streits sharp-angle shot from the left corner struck Andersen in the chest and bounced into the net off Reads right leg. NOTES: C Nick Bonino, one of four players to appear in all 56 games for Anaheim, went to the dressing room with an upper-body injury after an open-ice hit from C Zac Rinaldo at 12:38 of the opening period. He played four shifts in the second period before calling it a night. ... Rinaldo returned to the lineup after missing 10 games with a high left ankle sprain. ... Lindholm leads all rookies with a plus-minus figure of plus-25. He was a plus-2 against the Flyers. ... Winniks goal was his second this season and third in his last 96 games. ... The Flyers have connected on the power play in five straight games and 11 of the last 14. ... The Flyers are 26-20-6 since Craig Berube replaced Peter Laviolette as head coach following the teams second consecutive 0-3 start. ... The Ducks are 32-1-2 when scoring three or more goals, and 31-0-2 when allowing fewer than three. They also are 30-1-2 when leading after two periods. Dashon Goldson Red Jersey . Brad Jacobs, skip of Canadas national champions and world silver medallists, is among the dozen men who posed for a "2014 Men of Curling Calendar," released Tuesday. Oniel Cousins Red Jersey .J. -- Pete Carroll said it was the suspension of linebacker Bruce Irvin last spring that finally got the attention of the rest of the Seattle Seahawks that they needed to be taking their commitment to the team more seriously.ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright will skip a turn in the rotation to allow tendinitis in the back of his pitching elbow to subside. The team expects the right-hander, 9-3 with a 2.15 ERA, to return next Saturday against the Phillies. If this were October, general manager John Mozeliak said, Wainwright would definitely take the ball. "I think this is more precautionary than anything else," Mozeliak said Saturday nights game against the Nationals. "It was something that we just didnt want to push if we didnt have to, and he agreed." A day earlier, Wainwright emphasized his surgically repaired ligament was structurally sound and that the inflamed area was very small. Wainwright, who missed the 2011 season, won 19 games for the second time in his career last year and won 21 games in 2010. Mozeliak said it hasnt been determined who will take Wainwrights spot on Monday night against the Mets. It wont be rehabbing lefty Tyler Lyons, who was due to pitch Saturday night. "Obviously we can sit here and triangulate who might get this opportunity, but we havvent spoken with anybody yet and the fact is it could change depending on how the next couple days go," Mozeliak said. Kevin Pamphile Red Jersey. . "So its fluid." Wainwright said the elbow has been bothering him the past two starts, although it didnt affect his performance given he won both games and allowed two runs in 15 innings. In between those outings, the pitcher said the elbow was "very sore." So he told the training staff. Wainwright is tied for the National League lead with nine wins and was second in the NL with 100 1-3 innings, working at least seven innings in all but three of his 14 starts. He led the league with 241 2-3 innings last year and then tacked on another 35 innings for a team that lost to the Red Sox in the World Series. The curveball, his best pitch, puts extra stress on the elbow. Wainwright played catch inside earlier in the day and felt better, three days after receiving a cortisone injection, but Mozeliak said the right-hander understood the decision. Both the pitcher and team said a day earlier that it was prudent to take the long-term view. ' ' '
