Ducks shut out Blackhawks, lose Carlsson to knee injury
ANAHEIM >> 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
THE SCORE DUCKS 4, BLACKHAWKS 0 Ducks at Lightning, Sunday, 5:30 p.m., BSSC
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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.