April 4, 2017

The Ducks outlasted the Flames on Tuesday night at the Honda Center by a score of 3-1 to move closer to a Pacific Division title.

Patrick Eaves scored his 8th goal in 9 games, and John Gibson made 26 saves, as Anaheim opened up a four point lead in the Pacific Division.   Kevin Bieska and Chris Wagner also scored for the Ducks.  The bad news was they lost Cam Fowler to an injury.

Fowler took a knee-on-knee hit from Flames’ defenseman Mark Giordano in the 3rd period.  The Ducks’ top defender and ice-time leader had to be helped to the locker room.

“He’s one of our best players, and who knows the severity of the injury?”  Bieksa said. “But it looked like he was in a lot of pain, so we weren’t happy with it, so we responded the way we did.”

The Ducks are getting thin on the blue line as the playoffs approach.  Anaheim played without Sami Vatanen, and Hampus Lindholm before losing Fowler.  The Ducks were actually down to three defenseman at one point on Tuesday night after a few penalties, which meant Ryan Getzlaf had to take shifts as a defenseman.

Calgary hasn’t won at the Honda Center in 13 years, which is a string of 25 straight victories for the Ducks.  It is the longest winning streak in one arena against one opponent in NHL history.

The Ducks will host the Blackhawks on Thursday night in their quest for 5th straight Pacific Division title.