Ducks begin their trip with a victory

VANCOUVER, Canada — Ondrej Kase scored his first NHL goal, John Gibson made 27 saves and the Ducks beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-1, on Thursday night.

Jakob Silfverberg and Andrew Cogliano also scored for Anaheim (12-8-4), which has won three in a row and moved into second place in the Pacific Division.

Henrik Sedin had Vancouver’s only goal, and Ryan Miller stopped 21 shots. The Canucks (10-12-2) had won two in a row.

After dominating a scoreless first period, the Ducks took the lead 3 minutes 19 seconds into the second when Cam Fowler weaved into the offensive zone before dishing off to Silfverberg, who converted a onetimer for his eighth of the season.

Vancouver then had a great opportunity with 58 seconds of a five-on-three power play. But Gibson, who was coming off a 39-save performance in Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over Montreal, stopped Daniel Sedin on two point-blank chances before Brandon Sutter fanned on a loose puck in the slot.

Anaheim opened a 2-0 lead with 5:25 left in the period when Kase caught Miller out of position before throwing a puck in front that caromed off Vancouver defenseman Nikita Tryamkin, the post and finally Erik Gudbranson before crossing the line.

It was Kase’s first goal in his eighth NHL game.

Ryan Kesler, the former Canucks forward who gets booed every time he touches the puck at Rogers Arena, then ripped a shot off the post behind Miller that stayed out in the final seconds of the second.

Vancouver got one back with seven minutes left in regulation.

Henrik Sedin finished off a pass from Loui Eriksson at the side of the net after Fowler’s clearing attempt took a bad bounce off the glass.

The Canucks continued to press in the final moments, but Cogliano beat Miller for his sixth with 2:35 left as the Ducks closed out a successful opener to their three-game trip through western Canada.

Anaheim will play the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.