ANAHEIM –– The Ducks not only played faster but more effectively, winning for the first time in three outings as they topped the San Jose Sharks 3-1 on Tuesday night at Honda Center.
After being slow to the punch in an overtime loss in Colorado and a regulation defeat against the Kings, the Ducks trailed for only 51 seconds Tuesday as they glided past the rebuilding Sharks.
Troy Terry’s hand stayed hot with a goal, Leo Carlsson scored on the power play, Alex Killorn clinched the victory with an empty-netter and Cutter Gauthier’s two assists gave him his first career multipoint effort. Lukáš Dostál dazzled again with 27 saves. Pavel Mintyukov (illness) was reinserted into the lineup in favor of Tristan Luneau and Isac Lundeström (upper body) returned after a two-game absence, finishing the game after being shaken up again in the second period.
Mikael Granlund tallied for San Jose. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 38 of 40 shots.
The Ducks clung to a one-goal lead for over 12:30 of the third period, before Killorn collected the puck and lofted it from the defensive zone into the vacated cage to seal San Jose’s fate.
San Jose had knotted the game with a power-play goal at the 4:55 mark of the final frame but then retroceded the lead, committing a penalty 10 seconds after its goal and falling behind 2-1 just 31 seconds after that.
It was Terry engineering the Ducks’ second power-play scoring sequence with a heady puck reversal from the right faceoff circle to the left point. There, Mason McTavish made a seam pass back to the right circle for Gauthier’s one-timer, which generated a rebound that Carlsson popped home. The Swedish savant had a near miss earlier in the frame when he deked through Barclay Goodrow down low for a menacing backhand chance.
On San Jose’s goal, Granlund’s shot from high in the zone appeared to be destined for the stick of Goodrow, but instead it hit defenseman Jackson LaCombe’s twig and banked into the net.
Though they mounted a double-digit edge in shots on goal, the Ducks carried a narrow 1-0 lead into the second intermission. Even that was thanks to a hit post by Goodrow late in the period, and a strong save by Dostál on his subsequent redirection attempt.
The Ducks were unable to convert on their first three power-play opportunities of the game, bringing their season-opening slump to 0 for 20, but Terry took matters into his own hands, 6:56 into the second stanza.
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He received the puck at the defensive blue line, darted through the neutral zone and ripped a rising wrist shot through three Sharks defenders and over the shoulder of Blackwood. Terry, who extended his points streak to five games, has four goals and five points to lead the team in both categories. LaCombe and Gauthier earned assists as well as their first points of the season on the play.
As was the case in the season opener, the opening 20 minutes had no score but also no shortage of opportunities. The Ducks earned three of the four power plays in the period while the Sharks generated a pair of two-on-one rushes that were foiled improbably by Dostál. He made two sprawling saves, first clipping Danil Gushchin’s shot with his blocker and sending it off the crossbar then downward to teeter on the goal line