Ducks shut out Blackhawks, lose Carlsson to knee injury
The Ducks snapped their seven-game losing streak and avoided a season-series sweep at the hands of the Central Division’s worst team, the Chicago Blackhawks, dominating them 4-0 at Honda Center on Thursday night.
The battle of teams near the bottom of the Western Conference featured the first and second selections in this year’s NHL draft, though Chicago’s Connor Bedard was effectively a non-entity and the Ducks’ Leo Carlsson, who factored into a goal without earning a point, left the game in the second period with an apparent knee injury.
Brett Leason scored a goal and assisted on one of Alex Killorn’s two tallies before Frank Vatrano sealed Chicago’s fate with a powerplay marker. Lukáš Dostál turned away 29 shots for his first career shutout.
The Ducks were shorthanded just once and killed the penalty. They’ve gone 5 for 6 on the PK in their past two games after a disastrous stretch that saw them lose four of their five most deployed penalty killers to trades and injuries.
Arvid Söderblom made 21 saves for Chicago, after earning a 7-2 victory over the Ducks on March 12.
There would be no thirdperiod rally for the Blackhawks, who sustained a second loss in a fight when
ANAHEIM »
Ducks right wing Frank Vatrano celebrates after scoring against the Blackhawks during the third period Thursday.
THE SCORE
DUCKS 4, BLACKHAWKS 0
Up next: Ducks at Lightning, Sunday, 5:30 p.m., BSSC
SUMMARY
Chicago Ducks
First Period:
None. Penalties: Tinordi, CHI (Fighting), 10:23. Johnston, ANA (Fighting), 10:23. Strome, ANA (Cross Checking), 15:32.
1, Ducks, Killorn 13 (Vaakanainen, Lindstrom), 3:10. 2, Ducks, Leason 11 (Meyers, Mintyukov), 9:34. 3, Ducks, Killorn 14 (Leason, Zellweger), 18:26. Penalties: Slaggert, CHI (Holding), 3:36. Zaitsev, CHI (Interference), 10:09. Slaggert, CHI (Tripping), 15:13. Mintyukov, ANA (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 15:13. Bedard, CHI (Hooking), 16:17.
Second Period:
Third Period:
4, Ducks, Vatrano 30 (Terry, Fowler), 10:31 (pp). Penalties: Vlasic, CHI (Fighting), 0:15. Strome, ANA (Fighting), 0:15. Bedard, CHI (High Sticking), 8:58. Foligno, CHI (Slashing), 9:37.
Shots on goal:
7-12-6: 25.
Chicago 13-7-9: 29. Ducks
Power-play opportunities:
1. Ducks 1 of 5.
Chicago, Soderblom 4-20-1 (25 shots-21 saves). Ducks, Dostal 11-19-1 (29-29).
16,000 (17,174). T: 2:28.
Goalies:
A: 0 0 0 3 0 — 0 1 — 4
Chicago 0 of
Ryan Strome took down Jarred Tinordi, and then surrendered Vatrano’s elusive 30th goal of the season during a five-on-three
situation with 9:29 to play.
An early two-on-one rush fell by the wayside in the second period for the Ducks, they went on to pour in three goals, albeit at a cost as they lost Carlsson for the night and possibly longer.
Nine seconds after their power play expired, the Ducks stretched their lead to 3-0. Olen Zellweger passed from the point to below the goal line for Leason, who found Killorn in the right circle. He whipped a shot to the far side for his second goal of the game and 14th of the season with 1:34 left in the stanza.
The Ducks lost Carlsson when Alex Vlasic made a knee-on-knee hit on him, though no penalty was called. Carlsson was unable to support his weight on the leg as he left the ice and made his way down the tunnel, ending his evening prematurely and casting doubt on his status moving forward.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PACIFIC DIVISION
Vancouver Edmonton Kings Vegas Calgary Seattle Ducks
San Jose
CENTRAL DIVISION
Winnipeg Colorado Dallas Nashville St. Louis Minnesota Arizona Chicago
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
Boston Florida Toronto Tampa Bay Detroit Buffalo Montreal Ottawa
GP W
71 69 68 69 70 71 69 68 41 45 39 38 36 33 25 28
L OT Pts GF GA
15 20 20 25 28 33 32 36
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
N.Y. Rangers Carolina Philadelphia Washington N.Y. Islanders New Jersey Pittsburgh Columbus
GP W
70 67 69 68 68 67 70 69
GP W
69 69 70 70 70 70 69 70
GP W
70 70 70 68 69 70 68 69
Thursday’s results
15 4 9 6 6 5 12
4
L OT Pts GF GA
Ducks 4, Chicago 0
St. Louis 5, Ottawa 2
N.Y. Rangers 5, Boston 2
New Jersey 4, Winnipeg 1 Detroit 6, N.Y. Islanders 3 Carolina 3, Philadelphia 2, OT Nashville 3, Florida 0 Edmonton 8, Buffalo 3 Vancouver 4, Montreal 1 Seattle at Vegas, late
Tampa Bay 4, San Jose 1
Today’s games
Carolina at Washington, 4 p.m. Pittsburgh at Dallas, 5 p.m. Columbus at Colorado, 6 p.m. Seattle at Arizona, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s games
44 42 36 36 33 28 24 16 44 44 42 41 37 34 28 19 46 44 35 33 29 34 30 23
L OT Pts GF GA
18 21 22 25 30 27 43 46 8 4 11 7 5 12 3 7 96 245 187 88 242 190 83 216 180 79 219 205 71 213 220 68 182 196 51 175 252 39 151 280
L OT Pts GF GA
20 20 19 25 30 28 36 46 20 20 26 26 25 32 29 34 5 5 9 4 3 8 5 5 4 6 9 9 15 4 9 12 93 215 164 93 258 207 93 256 212 86 230 206 77 202 211 76 216 225 61 203 229 43 152 252 97 239 197 94 224 168 87 251 215 82 244 229 78 242 235 71 212 215 62 189 243 60 215 244 96 236 191 94 239 187 79 208 214 75 184 215 73 206 232 72 229 239 69 199 204 58 202 250
Boston at Philadelphia, 10 a.m. Winnipeg at N.Y. Islanders, 10 a.m. St. Louis at Minnesota, 11 a.m. Detroit at Nashville, 2 p.m. Edmonton at Toronto, 4 p.m. Ottawa at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Florida at N.Y. Rangers, 5 p.m. Calgary at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Chicago at San Jose, 7:30 p.m. Columbus at Vegas, 7:30 p.m. Tampa Bay at Kings, 7:30 p.m.