Pahlsson’s Offense Is a Big Plus

Mighty Duck center Samuel Pahlsson isn’t a household name, but he is quietly having the best year of his career.

Pahlsson has scored five goals in the last three games and has a career-high 11, three of them short-handed. In February, he won a gold medal with Sweden in the Winter Olympics.

As the team’s top defensive forward, Pahlsson has made contributions that haven’t been lost on his teammates.

“I think he probably needs [to score] a couple of more points to probably get recognition around the league,” defenseman Ruslan Salei said. “As far as the job he’s doing, he’s a horse out there.”

The offense has been a bonus. Pahlsson had never scored in consecutive games in his four previous NHL seasons but has been prodded by Duck Coach Randy Carlyle to shoot more.

“You can’t always rely on the top guys to score and win the game for us every night,” Pahlsson said.

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An interesting race may be developing for the Norris Trophy given to the NHL’s best defenseman. Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit may be the favorite, but the Ducks’ Scott Niedermayer is gaining momentum in his bid to become a repeat winner.

Lidstrom, who has won the award three times, leads all defensemen with 74 points. Niedermayer already has a career-high 60 points and has a plus-13 rating. An often overlooked choice is Sergei Zubov of Dallas, who was third among defensemen with 65 points entering Friday.