Vatrano’s goal gives Ducks another victory

DUCKS 3

CHICAGO 2 (OT)

CHICAGO — Frank Vatrano scored 2:15 into overtime, and the Ducks beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Tuesday night in a matchup of two of the NHL’s worst teams.

Vatrano recorded his 12th goal of the season when he beat Petr Mrazek from the left side of the net. Isac Lun-destrom set up the gamewinner with a cross-ice pass.

“It was a great play by Lundy all around, to hold on to that puck and find a lane for me,” Vatrano said.

The Ducks (17-29-6) improved to 4-0-1 in their last five games. It was the Ducks’ first victory against Chicago since Dec. 5, 2018, stopping an eight-game slide.

“We’ve been going good as of late, and before the [All-Star] break we were playing some good hockey,” Vatrano said. “We wanted to start after the break with some positivity.”

Brett Leason and Jayson Megna each had a goal and an assist for the Ducks. John Klingberg had two assists, and Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves.

Jason Dickinson had a goal for the third straight game for Chicago (15-29-5). Seth Jones also scored, and Mrazek made 23 saves.

With the score tied at 2, the Blackhawks controlled much of the action in the third period. But Stolarz stopped Dickinson’s pointblank shot with 7:40 left. Chicago defenseman Jake McCabe missed on a prime chance with just more than six minutes remaining.

It was the first game for the Blackhawks since Hall of Fame forward Bobby Hull died last week at age 84. The organization paid tribute to Hull with a pregame moment of silence and a video of his career highlights.

Troy Terry, the Ducks’ All-Star forward, was sidelined by an upper-body injury. He is day to day after he got hurt during a 3-2 shootout loss at Dallas on Monday night.