By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer
WASHINGTON — Hoping to build on the momentum of their overtime victory in Carolina over the weekend, the Ducks instead were shut out for the second time in three games.
Ducks leading scorer Troy Terry returned after missing the past three games for the birth of his second child, but Logan Thompson stopped all 18 shots he faced and the Washington Capitals beat the Ducks, 3-0, on Tuesday night.
Making a second consecutive start and playing in his third in a row since Charlie Lindgren was injured, Thompson made a handful of saves on quality scoring chances and many timely ones to get his first shutout of the season. He stretched his point streak to eight games (7-0-1) and improved to 19-2-3 since joining the Capitals.
Brandon Duhaime had a goal and an assist and John Carlson and Ethen Frank also scored for the Capitals, who have won two games in a row after alternating wins and losses in their previous nine dating to Dec. 23. The Capitals extended their point streak to eight games (5-0-3).
John Gibson made 22 saves for the Ducks, who lost for the fifth time in seven games. The Ducks avoided being shut out in their first 41 games before coming up goal-less twice on this trip.
After a dominant start in which the Capitals possessed the puck in the offensive zone for long stretches, Duhaime scored at 7:34 of the first period when the puck banked in off the back of his right skate. Jakob Chychrun carried the puck into the left circle and took a shot from the dot that was saved by Gibson. Chychrun’s follow-up on the rebound glanced off the leg of Duhaime and into the net.
Washington doubled its lead about seven minutes later. Ducks defenseman Brian Dumoulin tried to pass the puck out of his zone, but it was intercepted by Carlson in the neutral zone. He gave the puck up and then quickly got it back before skating to the inside edge of the right circle and scoring with a wrist shot.
Frank scored for the second straight game when he finished off a two-on-one rush with Pierre-Luc Dubois, scoring with a wrist shot from the right circle to extend the lead to 3-0 with 59 seconds left in the second period. Duhaime picked up a secondary assist on the play.
Frank has two goals and an assist in his first three NHL games, becoming the first Washington player to record at least a point in each of his first three games since Andre Burakovsky in 2014-15. Alex Ovechkin had at least a point in his first eight games in 2005-06.
UP NEXT
The Ducks make the fifth stop on their six-game road trip on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT at Tampa Bay.