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, whom they dominated, 4-0, on Thursday night at Honda Center.
The battle near the bottom of the Western Conference featured the first and second selections in last June’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 power-play 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 was no third-period rally for the visitors, who sustained a second loss in a fight when 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. It was the first time in six games the Ducks had scored on a power play.
The Ducks set up Vatrano with a one-timer from the right faceoff circle that he missed wide. When Cam Fowler dished to him anew, he took his time on the dot, changed his angle and tickled the twine. Vatrano had been stuck on 29 goals since March 1, with his nine-game goal drought entering the match having tied his longest dry spell of the season.
An early two-on-one rush fell by the wayside in the second period for the Ducks, but they went on to pour in three goals, albeit at a cost as they lost Carlsson for the night and possibly longer.
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