Roussel Comes Back With Winning Effort

Duck goalie Dominic Roussel was still a bit wobbly, even as he grinned ear-to-ear, after Sunday’s 1-0 victory over San Jose.

He had a reason to smile.

Roussel stopped 26 shots and, with the shutout, purged the memory of his performance Wednesday. He gave up five third-period goals after replacing the injured Guy Hebert (neck spasms) in a 8-2 loss to Phoenix.

“I was glad I got another chance,” Roussel said. “That wouldn’t have been a good one to let sit.”

Roussel, who is 5-1-1 filling in for Hebert, made some mental adjustments and got more help from his defense Sunday.

He showed quick reactions in the third period, first snagging a shot that deflected off the Sharks’ Niklas Sundstrom. He then blocked a deflection by Ron Sutter, who then fell on Roussel. That’s the last thing he recalled for a minute.

“I told our trainer that he got out there fast,” Roussel said. “He said that it actually took some time to get to me. That’s when I knew something wasn’t right. I had a really bad headache for about a minute. But I was staying in there no matter what.”

Tonight

at Edmonton, 5

* Site--SkyReach Centre.

* Radio--XTRA (690).

* Records--Ducks 18-14-4-1; Edmonton 11-16-9-5.

* Record vs. Oilers--1-0.

* Update--Sunday’s victory was the ninth time in 10 games that the Ducks held an opponent to two goals or less. They are 6-2-2 in that time. Alexander Selivanov leads the Oilers with 18 goals, but has not scored in the last 12 games.