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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- For the first 8 minutes of the Ducks return to Anaheim, coach Bruce Boudreau thought he saw the residual effects of an eight-game, 15-day road trip. For the rest of the night, the Ducks dug deep -- and demonstrated why theyre on top of the NHL. Hampus Lindholm scored his first career goal, Corey Perry got the tiebreaking goal right before the second-period buzzer, and the Ducks stayed perfect at home with a 5-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday. Ryan Getzlaf, Lindholm and Cam Fowler each had a goal and an assist in Anaheims triumphant return from a 5-2-1 road trip. With six wins in their last seven games, the Ducks (13-3-1) lead the league with 27 points despite playing alongside Phoenix and San Jose in the competitive Pacific Division. "It didnt look like we had a lot of energy or jump (early)," Boudreau said. "Then it seemed like it all kicked in again." Shane Doan put the Coyotes ahead in the opening minutes, but the Ducks eventually responded with the same aggressive play and balanced goal-scoring theyve used to climb up the standings -- and the NHLs worst power play even chipped in twice. "We knew tonight was going to be difficult, but we cant use being tired as an excuse for not doing what we have to do," said Perry, fourth in the NHL with 10 goals. "We learned a lot from the way we started last year, and we have to continue to do what we did." Even with largely awful special-teams play, the Ducks are off to their second straight outstanding start under Boudreau after opening 22-3-4 last winter. Anaheim moved to the top of the league table this season amid a brutal schedule that includes yet another East Coast road trip after the current three-game homestand. The Ducks are 6-0 at Honda Center, maintaining the only perfect home record in the NHL. "We were definitely treating this game with tons of importance," said Fowler, who matched his goal total from last season. "We knew the type of roll Phoenix was on, and it seems like nobody seems to be losing in our division right now. We understood how important these two points were." Perry tipped home Lindholms shot during a delayed penalty with 1.1 seconds left in the period, and Fowler provided a cushion with the second man-advantage goal of the night for the Ducks, whose power play had scored just four times all season. Jonas Hiller made 24 saves for the Ducks, and Andrew Cogliano added an empty-net goal with 1:02 to play while limping to the bench after Doan levelled him with a big hit along the far boards. Michael Stone scored a power-play goal for the Coyotes, who had won five straight. Mike Smith stopped 24 shots, but Phoenix failed to earn a point for just the second time in 14 games. "We were in a back-to-back, and they were coming off a long road trip, so it was a pretty even playing field," said Doan, who has five goals in his last seven games. "But we know we gave it to them." After Doans early goal in his 1,262nd regular-season game, Lindholm evened it in his 15th NHL game. The 19-year-old rookie defenceman, whose surprising emergence has catalyzed Anaheims fast start, converted a pass from Mathieu Perreault in the slot. After Stone put Phoenix back ahead, Getzlaf evened it moments later with a shot off Martin Hanzals stick during a two-man advantage for his seventh goal. Anaheims power play went 1 for 28 on the road trip. Perry then put the Ducks ahead in the waning seconds, lightly deflecting Lindholms shot from the blue line. "You cant win a game in this league if youre going to turn the puck over and be undisciplined," Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. "We knew it was going to be a hard game, and it was a good test for our team to see how wed react. When youre chasing in the game -- especially when youre playing back-to-backs -- you look tired. But we just didnt play smart enough or execute well enough." Teemu Selanne returned to the Ducks ahead of schedule after missing the final three games of the trip for oral surgery. The Finnish Flash, who was expected to be out for two weeks, lost four teeth and needed 40 stitches after taking an inadvertent high stick from Philadelphias Luke Schenn. Phoenix played without defenceman Derek Morris, who incurred a lower-body injury in Tuesdays win over Vancouver. The Coyotes then lost right wing Radim Vrbata to a lower-body injury during the game. NOTES: Anaheim D Luca Sbisa played his second game of the season after missing the first five weeks with an injury. ... Phoenix D David Schlemko missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Sami Vatanen, who has the only other goal by a Ducks defenceman this season, was scratched. Cheap Jerseys . -- Augusta James of Bath, Ont. Wholesale Jerseys . -- Sonny Grays fastball wasnt as sharp as it usually is, and the Oakland Athletics young pitcher even had a quirky replay go against him. TORONTO -- Nazem Kadri and the Toronto Maple Leafs like to think of the first period as the most important 20 minutes of the game. That worked out well against the Philadelphia Flyers, though making the third period their worst almost didnt. The Leafs blew two leads after the second intermission but managed to rebound to beat the Flyers 4-3 in overtime Saturday night at Air Canada Centre. "It feels good," game-winning goal-scorer Joffrey Lupul said of bouncing back. "We dont want to make a habit of blowing third-period leads. Things are going to happen, other teams are going to make plays and we stuck with it. "There was a good feeling on our bench going into overtime. It seemed like everyone had their composure and were calm and we got the result we needed." The result was the Leafs second straight overtime victory but also the fourth game in five since the Olympic break that involved blowing at least one third-period lead. Toronto had a two-goal lead 3:38 into the first by virtue of goals by Jake Gardiner and Kadri, but that slipped away after Flyers defenceman Kimmo Timonen scored twice. Mason Raymonds go-ahead goal later in the third was then erased when Braydon Coburn beat Jonathan Bernier with plenty of traffic in front. That was the sixth time the Leafs had coughed up a lead in the final period of regulation in the past five games. Gardiner called it "a little bit of a collapse defensively," and it was hard for his teammates to disagree given this disturbing trend. "Obviously thats a little bit of a concern, but thats not something thats drawing our complete attention," Kadri said. "Obviously our D-zone could be a little tighter, but thats something weve got to work on." With 17 games left in the regular season, theres some time to go to work, but most importantly, Leafs players took out of Saturday night the satisfaction of not caving in and managing to pick up two valuable points. Toronto (34-23-8) now has 76 points, two up on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the third playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. "Thats really what we focus on: we show character to stay in games," Kadri said. "Even though its a little bit deflating at times giving up a couple goal-leads in the third period, especially late to force overtime, we stay positive and came out with the right outcome." Coach Randy Carlyle had his issues with the Leafs performance, like when he thought players stopped skating at the end of the second period and how several stayed on the ice for shifts that were too long for his liking. But he, too, took a positive out of regrouping after Coburn tied the score again at the 17:28 mark of the third. "A lot of times when the game gets away from you, your team goes and continues to spiral," Carlyle said. "Well we didnt spiral, in my mind. Maybe if I re-watch it again Ill have a different opinion, but it didnt seem like we were under siege in the third." At the start, the Leafs had the Flyers (33-24-7) under siege. The goals by Gardiner and Kadri came on Torontos first four shots against Steve Mason, who looked shaky for at least the first handful of minutes. From Coburns perspective, it wasnt just Mason, who stopped 32 of the 36 shots he faced. "We had an awful start," he said. "We cant start hockey that way." While Leafs winger Troy Bodie, who helped set up Gardiners goaal as part of his two-assist night, noticed a jump from those two early goals, it put Philadelphia in a major hole that it had to climb out of the rest of the game.dddddddddddd "The first 10 minutes of the game, we didnt play that good and they were able to score two goals, but I think the next 50-54 minutes, we were skating and working and creating chances," said Timonen, who scored his first career goals against the Leafs in his 30th game against them. "We were a better team after that first 10 minutes." Bernier made several memorable saves among his 28 to keep the Flyers from breaking through until the third period. And Mason bounced back to stop 29 consecutive shots between Kadris goal in the first and Raymonds in the third. "He held us in there," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "I thought he did a real good job, made some big saves. Theyre a good offensive team, they make plays and he came up big." What usually makes the Leafs such a good offensive team is big contributions from James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel. That top line was kept off the score sheet Saturday night, but goals from Gardiner, Lupul, Raymond and Kadri got Toronto two points and could portend good things moving forward. "I think thats what is going to be a key to our success as the season goes on," Lupul said. "As good as our first line has been, it would be asking a lot for them to sustain the pace theyve had these past 10, 15 games. Were going to have to step up and were getting opportunities. Tonight some of them went in for us." The Leafs biggest question mark going into a five-game road trip that starts Monday in Anaheim is how to stop other teams from putting the puck in the net so much, especially while leading in the third period. Lupul credited the Flyers for being a desperate opponent, while also considering it could be partially because of inexperience on the part of the Leafs. "Wed like to do a little better job defending or actually staying on the offence, but sometimes the other team is going to make some plays, too," he said. "We wouldve loved to hang on and not need overtime." It was in overtime that Lupul was able to come through as the hero, scoring on a tic-tac-toe passing play that started with Carl Gunnarsson and Dion Phaneuf. "We finished strong and Neuf and Lupes made a great play on the last goal," Gardiner said. Lupuls 19th goal of the season managed to at least temporarily shift this problem into the background. Or perhaps it wont become a real issue until the Leafs lose one of these games in regulation, as they improved to 24-1-2 when leading after two. "I dont think we want to keep that path going," Gardiner said. "They go both ways sometimes, and tonight we got it. NOTES -- Winger David Clarkson was scratched for the Maple Leafs after a pulled muscle from Fridays practice continued to bother him. Defenceman Paul Ranger was a healthy scratch as Frazer McLaren was called up so the Leafs could dress 12 forwards. ... The Leafs honoured 19 gold- and silver-medal-winning Canadian Olympians prior to the game, including five players from the womens hockey team. ... Steve Downie was scratched for the Flyers because of the flu. Ex-Leafs forward Jay Rosehill took his place, making his biggest impact on the game by fighting McLaren in the second period. ' ' '