Ducks fall to Wild for seventh straight loss
The long and winding road that has been the Ducks’ campaign induced a little more motion sickness on Tuesday, when they dropped their seventh straight game, 4-0, to the Minnesota Wild at Honda Center.
Like their season-long slump of eight consecutive defeats, all seven losses have come in regulation. They’ve been outscored 35-7 and shut out on three occasions during this go-round in the doldrums.
John Gibson started in net, but like Lukáš Dostál on Thursday at Minnesota (a 2-0 loss), he received no goal support against the Wild, though he stopped 28 shots in defeat.
Ryan Hartman scored a goal and helped set one up for Kirill Kaprizov. Matt Boldy assisted on both those goals. Jon Merrill and Jacob Lucchini also scored for Minnesota, which got 26 saves from Filip Gustavsson in his third shutout of the year.
The final 20 minutes served to further cushion the visitors’ lead. A giveaway just inside the offensive blue line created a two-on-one rush on which Adam Beckman dished to Lucchini for a one-timer that made it 4-0.
Minnesota scored a pair of goals in the opening 1:56 of the second period.
First, Cam Fowler intercepted the puck, only to be stripped by Boldy below the goal line. His pass for Marcus Foligno in front set up a shot from the slot that generated a rebound. Hartman mopped it up just 35 seconds into the period.
Then, the one area that the Wild dominated statistically — having won 75% of faceoffs through two periods — led to a goal. An offensivezone draw win by Marat Khusnutdinov
ANAHEIM »
Minnesota’s Marco Rossi, left, and the Ducks’ Cam Fowler mix it up during Tuesday night’s game at Honda Center. The Wild defeated the Ducks 4-0.
THE SCORE
WILD 4, DUCKS 0
Up next: Blackhawks at Ducks, Thursday, 7 p.m., BSSC
and a quick dish by Frederick Gaudreau set up a long shot to the far side through traffic by Merrill. The Wild led 2-0 at the 1:56 mark.
With 8:10 left in the period, the Ducks were victimized on the penalty kill, where they’ve struggled mightily of late, after killing off two earlier infractions. Gibson was under heavy fire in the buildup to the goal. Kaprizov recovered a shot attempt, reviving the play with his skating and passing alike. He served Boldy a one-timer on a platter and then found a contested rebound that became goal No. 36 of 2023-24 for the
SUMMARY
Minnesota Ducks
First Period:
None. Penalties: Killorn, ANA (Interference), 10:13. Brodin, MIN (Hooking), 12:36.
1, Minnesota, Hartman 18 (Foligno, Boldy), 0:35. 2, Minnesota, Merrill 4 (Khusnutdinov, Gaudreau), 1:56. 3, Minnesota, Kaprizov 36 (Hartman, Boldy), 11:50 (pp). Penalties: Silfverberg, ANA (Slashing), 2:22. Zuccarello, MIN (Interference), 7:12. Vaakanainen, ANA (Hooking), 10:26. Johansson, MIN (Interference), 13:06.
4, Minnesota, Lucchini 2 (Beckman), 13:03. Penalties: Lindstrom, ANA (Slashing), 2:06. McTavish, ANA (Holding), 9:37.
Minnesota 9-9-14: 32. Ducks 6-10-11:
27; Minnesota 1 of 5. Ducks 0 of 3; Minnesota, Gustavsson 18-15-4 (27 shots-27 saves). Ducks, Gibson 13-24-2 (32-28);
16,239 (17,174). T: 2:22.
Second Period:
Third Period: 0 0
Shots on goal:
Power-play opportunities:
Goalies: 3 0 1 0 — —
A: 4 0
man some call “The Thrill.”
The first frame had passed by scoreless, with Minnesota carrying play and the Ducks hitting the net just once until a power play enlivened their offense, generating three shots.