Power-play goals boost Ducks’ game

Vatrano and Henrique score 66 seconds apart in the second to help beat San José.

SAN JOSÉ — Adam Henrique had a goal and two assists, Frank Vatrano scored his team-leading 27th goal and the Ducks beat the San José Sharks 6-4 on Thursday to end a three-game skid.

Leo Carlsson, Brett Leason, Alex Killorn and Isac Lundestrom also scored for the Ducks, who have beaten the Sharks in three of four games this season.

With the score tied late in the second, the Ducks scored power-play goals 66 seconds apart.

Vatrano gave the Ducks the lead on a slap shot that went in off the skate of the Sharks’ Mario Ferraro after Kaapo Kahkonen made the save.

Henrique then deflected in a shot from the point by Jackson LaCombe to give the Ducks a 5-3 lead heading into the third.

“Our power play came up and stepped up big and gave us the confidence, gave us back the momentum,” said defenseman Radko Gudas, who led all skaters with over 28 minutes in ice time. “I don’t think we let go until the very end.”

Anthony Duclair cut the lead to 5-4 with a four-onthree goal midway through the third, but the Sharks couldn’t find the equalizer. Lundestrom added an empty-net goal.

“We felt we were in control of the game for most of that second period,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “And we got the two powerplay goals and took a lot of stress off of us.”

Duclair scored twice for the Sharks, who also got goals from Mike Hoffman and William Ecklund.

San José had evened the score earlier in the second period on two power-play goals of their own by Hoffman

and Ecklund after Killorn had given the Ducks a 3-1 lead.

The teams traded goals 20 seconds apart early in the first period. Duclair got the scoring started for the Sharks, but Carlsson tied it on the next shift.

“I liked our game,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “I just didn’t like the score.”

The Ducks grabbed the lead heading into the second intermission on a short-handed goal, with Leason going coast-to-coast after the Ducks won the faceoff in the defensive zone.

Troy Terry, tied for the team lead with 45 points, sat out his second straight game because of an upper-body injury.

The Ducks also lost Cam Fowler, who leads their defense in points, after the veteran took a puck to the face in front of his net just seconds into the game. Cronin said Fowler is considered day to day.

Notes

The Ducks acquired Toronto’s third-round selection in the 2025 NHL draft in exchange for defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, and called up defenseman Olen Zellweger from their AHL affiliate in San Diego.