Bertuzzi stars in Ducks’ rout, 5-0

Many eyebrows were raised last summer when the Ducks signed Todd Bertuzzi to a two-year, $8-million free-agent contract even though the big winger had been injured most of last season.

And the whispers that Bertuzzi was on the decline as an impact player seemed to be supported by his slow start in Anaheim, which included a concussion that knocked him out for a month early in the season.

The jury may still be out on his signing, but Bertuzzi is making a difference now. He had his first three-point game since joining the Ducks in their 5-0 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs for their fifth straight home victory Wednesday night at the Honda Center.

Bertuzzi had a goal and two assists to lead another big offensive night for the Ducks (23-17-6), who have 10 goals in their last two games after scoring just 12 in their previous six.

“We talked about our inability to score goals for probably 30-plus games so now that we’ve finally scored a couple of them in back-to-back games, we feel pretty good about ourselves,” Coach Randy Carlyle said.

Mirroring Anaheim’s recent 8-2-2 surge, Bertuzzi has five goals and seven assists in his last 14 games and, perhaps most important, his confidence is soaring.

“I feel I’m skating better and when I’m skating better, I feel a little more in control of my game,” said Bertuzzi, who has seven goals and 19 points in 32 games. “The puck’s been coming around me lately and I have the confidence to make plays. Just having fun.”

Bertuzzi wasn’t the only one thriving. Corey Perry also boosted his All-Star credentials with his 23rd goal along with two assists and Brandon Bochenski got his first goal since coming to the Ducks from Boston on Jan. 2.

Doug Weight also had a goal and his third-period assist on Chris Kunitz’s power-play goal gave him 700 for his career in becoming the fifth American-born player to reach that milestone.

“It’s pretty cool,” Weight said. “It’s really a feat I’m proud of. That’s my game. It’s been the bulk of what I do in the league. I’m definitely proud of it.”

All in all, it was an easy victory against a bad Maple Leafs team, whose visits to Anaheim are about as common as a solar eclipse.

Toronto has made two trips in the last nine years and in the last appearance, in 2003, the Honda Center was then known as the Arrowhead Pond and the Ducks got a 5-1 victory behind two goals by Andy McDonald and 29 saves by Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

McDonald is no longer here, having been traded last month to St. Louis for Weight. But Giguere is still around to bring about more headaches. He stopped 28 shots for his 27th career shutout, tying Guy Hebert for the club record.

Giguere, though, talked about the offense.

“We know we have the talent to score some goals and do some damage up front,” he said. “It’s nice to see that. It hasn’t happened a lot this year for us so it’s nice to see guys getting rewarded with some big goals.

“It’s always easier to play with a 5-0 lead than a 1-0 lead.”

Giguere got support early from Bertuzzi, who took advantage of Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle’s falling two minutes into the game. He took Mathieu Schneider’s stretch pass at the Toronto blue line and moved in alone on goalie Vesa Toskala.

Bertuzzi got Toskala to bite one way on a move before going to his forehand to slip the puck underneath the netminder for his seventh goal of the season.

“The defenseman fell that was chasing me and Schneids made a heads-up play and got it to me,” Bertuzzi said. “I knew I had some room to at least be a little bit creative on it.”

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eric.stephens@latimes.com