John Gibson made 37 saves for his second shutout of the season and the visiting Anaheim Ducks ended a 12-game losing streak with a 3-0 win against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday in St. Paul.
Adam Henrique, Rickard Rakell and Brian Gibbons scored and Brandon Montour had two assists for the Ducks, who went a month between victories while establishing their longest losing streak in franchise history (0-8-4).
The Ducks scored all their goals in the first eight minutes to chase starting goalie Alex Stalock (five saves). He was replaced by Devan Dubnyk, who made 15 saves.
The win moved Anaheim into a tie in points with the Wild (49), who maintained their second wild-card spot from the Western Conference.
The Ducks took a 1-0 lead at 3:57 of the first period when forward Nick Ritchie brought the puck from behind the Anaheim net and up the sidewall before making a short pass to Henrique as he skated into the right circle.
Henrique's wrist shot went through the legs of Minnesota forward Zach Parise and over the right shoulder of Stalock for his ninth goal of the season.
Anaheim scored again 11 seconds later.
Montour sent a diagonal pass off the boards to Devin Shore at the Minnesota blue line and he skated toward the Wild net.
Stalock poked the puck off Shore's blade, but it went to Rakell in the slot and he sent a one-timer into the net for a 2-0 lead.
With the assist, Shore earned his first point in his second game since he was traded to the Ducks from the Dallas Stars on Monday.
Gibbons scored his second goal of the season at 7:58 to make it 3-0.
Ducks rookie defenseman Andy Welinski flicked the puck toward the net from the right point and Gibbons made a slight deflection, causing it to skip past Stalock.
The Ducks, who had been outscored 21-2 after the second period during the losing streak, took a lead into the third period for the fifth straight game. Parise took a career-high 11 shots on goal for Minnesota.
--Field Level Media
Anaheim | Minnesota | |
Brandon Montour 2 | Points | N/A |
Brian Gibbons 1 | Goals | N/A |
Brandon Montour 2 | Assists | N/A |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
John Gibson 1.000 | Save Percentage | Devan Dubnyk 1.000 |
John Gibson 37 | Saves | Devan Dubnyk 15 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Anaheim | 23 | 3 | 0-4 | 4-4 | 8 | 30 |
Minnesota | 37 | 0 | 0-4 | 4-4 | 8 | 22 |