ANAHEIM –– The Ducks poured in three unanswered goals to upend the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2, at Honda Center on Sunday afternoon.
They have now won four of their past five games while the Habs slipped out of a wild-card spot in the course of losing five straight. The Ducks moved to 21-0-2 when breaking the three-goal barrier this season, a stat that’s all the more staggering given that they’ve won just 22 games overall.
The Ducks had allowed four consecutive goals in a 4-1 loss to Calgary but reversed that script, much as they tilted the ice between the first and second stanzas Sunday.
Mason McTavish, Frank Vatrano and Alex Killorn each lit the lamp for the Ducks. Killorn tacked on an assist and Leo Carlsson had two helpers in his first multipoint showing since Nov. 15. Leading point producer Troy Terry was a late scratch (illness), moving Vatrano to right wing and ascending Trevor Zegras to the top line. Lukas Dostal stopped 21 shots, including all 13 he faced in the final 40 minutes of the match.
Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak tallied for Montreal. Samuel Montbembault had 19 saves.
Though a second intermission tie and an unsuccessful Ducks power play to open the third period left the result up in the air, at the 11:11 mark of the final frame, the Ducks earned their first lead of the contest off Carlsson’s second assist and Killorn’s second point.
After receiving the puck from Carlsson, Killorn strode into the right faceoff circle, where he and McTavish outnumbered Arber Xhekaj. Killorn proceeded to the dot, where he launched a shot off the far post and in for his 11th goal of the campaign.
After a somnambulistic first period, the Ducks got their druthers in the second. Initially, they evened out possession and territorial play before breaking through with two tallies in 40 seconds, between the 13:37 and 14:17 marks.
Vatrano tied the game on a play he started with an outlet pass from the defensive blue line to Zegras at the red line. Zegras one-touched the puck to Ryan Strome at the offensive blue line, where he scooted forward and found a trailing Vatrano unmarked in the slot. Vatrano fired in his 16th goal of 2024-25, tying him with Terry for the team lead.
The Ducks had halved their deficit with an effort that involved one of the team’s hottest scorers and one of its coldest. Carlsson earned his first point in seven games as he recovered the puck in the Montreal zone, slid it to McTavish below the goal line and glided toward the goal mouth. There, he set a screen for a Killorn shot. Carlsson was joined on the doorstep by McTavish, who tipped Killorn’s shot in for his seventh goal in six games and 13th of the season.
Sunday’s early start time may have been news to the Ducks during a first period in which their opportunities were mostly scraps and crumbs, while Montreal feasted on odd-man rushes and special-teams goals.
The Ducks had some zone time but were unable to generate any high-danger chances, while Montreal had five in the period, per Natural Stat Trick and the naked eye alike.
Early on, Dostal made a ten-bell after Juraj Slafkovsky played Moses in the neutral zone, parting the sea and disintegrating the Ducks’ structure to set up sniper Cole Caufield for a one-timer that had a trail of smoke behind it.
Continuing a theme of sporadic and squandered chances for the Ducks, after Olen Zellweger (he played for the first time since Jan. 21 and drew two penalties) hustled down the wall to force Brendan Gallagher into a penalty, they turned the game’s first power play into the game’s first goal.
For Montreal.
Montreal’s Jake Evans controlled the puck in the defensive zone, where Jackson LaCombe’s “olé” poke check at the blue line and some more matador defense from McTavish sent Evans ahead at a measured pace. He managed to slide across to a wide-open Armia, who received the puck on his backhand at one post before transitioning to his forehand to tuck it inside the other, 10:35 after the opening faceoff.
The Ducks nearly killed their first penalty of the afternoon but fell down 2-0 with just one second remaining on Vatrano’s hooking minor. Kirby Dach’s saucer pass initiated a puck reversal, with Alex Newhook setting up Mike Matheson’s one-timer from the right circle, which generated a rebound for Dvorak to pop home.
After they fell down 2-0, Ross Johnston fought Xhekaj, invigorating the bench in a theretofore lackluster frame.