March 12th, 2017

Corey Perry scored 2 goals and added an assist, and Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and 2 assists as the Ducks took care of the Capitals 5-2 at Honda Center on Sunday.

Ryan Kessler also had a goal and two assist for the Ducks who have won three of their last four games.  Anaheim also moved ahead of Calgary for 2nd place in the Pacific Division with the win.  Richard Rakell contributed his 29th goal, and Jonathan Bernier had 25 saves.

The Capitals got goals from John Carlson and Marcus Johansson, as they lost their season high fourth consecutive game.

Alex Ovechkin didn’t score for the 10th straight game, which is the longest scoring drought of his career.

The Ducks held a pregame ceremony to mark the 10-year anniversary of the their Stanley Cup Championship.  Perry and Getzlaf were two of the youngest players on the team then, and Randy Carlyle is behind the Ducks bench once again.

The Capitals played without defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who was serving the first of his two-game suspension for charging at Kings defenseman Kevin Gravel on Saturday night.

Anaheim will return to action on Wednesday night against the Blues, at the Honda Center.

March 11th, 2017

The Ducks didn’t do the LA Kings any favora on Friday night in St. Louis.  Joel Edmundon scored with 20 seconds left to give the Blues a 4-3 win, as St. Louis moved 3 points ahead of the Kings for the final playoff spot in the West.

Jake Allen made 23 saves for St Louis.  They also got goals from Paul Stastny, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan Reaves.  It was their their third straight win.

Jakob Silfverberg, Chris Wagner and Rickard Rakell scored for the Ducks.  Anaheim had their two game win streak snapped.

Anaheim goalie John Gibson was making his first start after missing six games in a row with a lower-body injury.

Stastny snapped a 2-2 tie in the first minute of the third with a blast from the slot.

Silfverberg tied it at 3-3 on the power play with 10:36 left.

Then Edmundson would win it late.  That gave the Blues a win against a Ducks team they’ll be facing again on Wednesday in Anaheim.

The Ducks return to action on Sunday against the Capitals.  It will be the first of three straight home games.

March 9th, 2017

The Ducks went into Chicago on Thursday night and beat the Blackhawks 1-0.  It was their 2nd win in a row, and it came behind a strong start from Jonathan Bernier.

The Anaheim netminder made 43 saves, and collected his 100th NHL win in the process.  The only goal of the game was scored by Corey Perry, which came in the 2nd period.

Perry scored on the Ducks’ 14th shot, just moments after Marian Hossa’s drive dribbled off the post to Bernier’s left. He beat Corey Crawford on the stick side as he cut across the slot.

The Ducks snapped Chicago’s seven game winning streak, despite being outshot 43-26 on the night.  It was also just the 2nd time in the last 14 games that the Blackhawks lost.

It was Bernier’s second shutout of the season and the 14th of his career.  He started in place of the injured John Gibson who was sidelined with a lower-body injury for the 6th straight game.  The Ducks moved past Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division with the win.

As for Perry, the goal ended a 10-game drought.  It was his 12th of the season, and his first since scoring two goals against Buffalo on February 9th at Buffalo.

“We weathered the storm in the first period and our goalie stood tall,” Perry said. “Got to give him a lot of credit. “Sometimes you need him, and we needed him tonight.”

March 7th, 2017

The Ducks got off to a slow start on Tuesday night in Anaheim, but rallied to beat the Predators 4-3 in a shootout.

Newly acquired Patrick Eaves scored the only goal of the shootout, which came in the 5th round, and capped off the Ducks rally.

Anaheim was down 2-0, and 3-1, before rallying back.  “We stuck with it,” Ryan Getzlaf said. “I felt like, earlier in the year, at these times, I thought we’d maybe let things get away. We [would] start taking more and more penalties. We took our fair share tonight, but we were able to kind of rally it in and get a couple of bounces.”

Richard Rakell and Nick Ritchie scored 6 minutes apart in the 2nd period to tie the game at 3-3.  That was one of the Ducks best 10 minute stretches in several weeks.  Their forecheck was dominant, and they were very effective in the face-off circle.

Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Ducks on the power play in the 1st period.  It was his 12th of the season, and ended a 1 for 35 drought in their previous 13 games.

Ducks goaltender John Gibson missed his fifth straight game with a muscle strain.  Jonathan Bernier made the start again, and had 24 saves for the win.

The Ducks will travel to Chicago to play the Blackhawks on Thursday night up next.

March 6th, 2017

The Ducks haven’t been able to string together consecutive wins since mid-January, and they failed again on Sunday night against Vancouver.  The Canucks surprised Anaheim with a 2-1 win at the Honda Center.

The surprise was Canucks goalie Richard Bachman, who made his first appearance of the season for the Canucks.  The 29-year-old made 43 saves, and got his first win since October 30, 2015.  Vancouver is now 6 points out of the playoffs after beating the Kings and Ducks on back-to-back nights.

The Ducks fell behind 2-0, after Bo Horvat and Markus Granlund scored in the 1st two periods for Vancouver.

Anaheim got on the board in the 3rd period when Patrick Eaves knocked in a shot off a pass from Ryan Getzlaf.  However, they would get no closer despite having their chances.

The Ducks had two 3rd period power plays, but didn’t do much with them.  In fact, Anaheim had just three power plays in their last two games, and has scored just once in their last 35 opportunities.

“They did a good job of getting in lanes,” Eaves said. “We threw a lot at the net — we threw things from the sides, from all over the place … unfortunately it didn’t bounce out to one of us.”

Anaheim outshot Vancouver 19-4 in the 3rd period, but they couldn’t solve Bachman, and had trouble getting quality shots on net.  The Canucks blocked 17 shots.

The Ducks are still tied for 3rd place in the Pacific Division.  They’ll take on Nashville on Tuesday night at the Honda Center before hitting the road for a couple of games.

March 3rd, 2017

For most NHL teams, their first game after the bye week hasn’t gone well.  That wasn’t the case for the Ducks, who beat the Maple Leafs 5-2 on Friday at the Honda Center.

Richard Rakell scored twice and Jonathan Bernier made 37 saves, as the Ducks maintained a two point lead over Calgary for 3rd place in the Pacific Division.

The Ducks  also got goals from Sami Vatanen and Jakob Silfverberg.  Patrick Eaves added an empty-netter for his first goal as a Duck to secure the win.

Anaheim fell behind 2-1 in the 2nd period after a power play goal from Toronto’s Nazem Kadri.  However, the Ducks got goals 16 seconds apart from Silfverberg and Rakell.

Rakell now has 4 goals in his last 3 games and 26 on the season.

Bernier got the win against his former team.  Meanwhile, Frederik Andersen did not get the chance to play against the Ducks, his former team, as he sat out the 2nd night of a back-to-back.

Ducks G John Gibson missed his third consecutive game with a lower-body injury.  Anaheim will return to action on Sunday night vs Vancouver.

February 22nd, 2016

The Ducks haven’t been scoring much his season, but Richard Rakell is having himself a fine season.  Rakell scored two goals to lead the Ducks to a 5-3 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night at the Honda Center.

With 2:34 left in the 3rd period, Rackell tapped in Corey Perry’s missed attempt that squirted to him on the right side.  Andrew Cogliano added an empty-netter with 49 seconds left, which helped snap Boston’s four game win streak under new coach Bruce Cassidy.

The Bruins attack was relentless all night, but the Ducks were up for the challenge.  Anaheim took a 3-2 led into the 3rd period after a goal by Josh Manson.  However, Boston tied it up about halfway through the 3rd after Frank Vatrano scored on a breakaway.

Jonathan Bernier made 26 saves to get the win for Anaheim.  He filled in for Jonathan Gibson who sat out because of an upper body injury.

“It was nice to get the bounces tonight,” Rakell said. “We’ve been having a tough time the last couple of games to get something going, so for sure, it was nice that we were able to help the team tonight.

The line of Ryan Getzlaf, Nick Richie, and Ondrej Kase combined for a goal and four assists in the Ducks largest offensive outbreak in their last seven games.

The Ducks will now travel up the freeway to take on the Kings at Staples Center on Saturday afternoon.

February 20th, 2017

The Coyotes struck early and often in the 1st period on Monday, and then held on for a 3-2 win against the Ducks.  Arizona got three goals in the 1st period, capped off by Radim Vrbata’s 12th goal of the season.

After Jonathan Bernier gave up three goals on just six shots in that 1st period, he was replaced by Jonathan Gibson.  That stabilized things for Anaheim, as Gibson stopped all 14 shots he faced the rest of the way.

Ryan Getzlaf got the Ducks on the board midway through the 2nd period, after he re-directed a pass from Josh Manson past Mike Smith.  It was Getzlaf’s 10th goal of the season.

Getzlaf got his 2nd of the game with 26 seconds left in the 3rd period, but it was too little too late for Anaheim.  The Ducks had a couple of good chances in the final seconds, but Coyotes backup goaltender Marek Langhamer made the critical saves to preserve the win.  Langhamer was forced into action when Smith left the game after a collision in front of the net with just over 4 minutes left in the 3rd period.

The Coyotes also got 1st period goals from Christian Dvorak and Jakob Chychrun.  Mike Smith made 27 saves before leaving in the 3rd, while Langhamer stopped 7 of the 8 shots that he faced.

Arizona has won four of their last six games.  They also traded defenseman Michael Stone to Calgary on Monday.  He was replaced in the lineup by Connor Murphy.

Anaheim has just 4 wins in their last 10 games, but they’ll get to come home for a while.  The Ducks play Boston at home on Wednesday, and play four of the past five games at the Honda Center.