Ducks finish trip on a high note, move closer to Kings

Ryan Getzlaf, Rickard Rakell and Sami Vatanen each had a goal and an assist and the Ducks beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2, on Thursday night.

Josh Manson and Kevin Bieksa also scored, John Gibson made 19 saves and Anaheim wrapped up a seven-game trip with a 5-1-1 record and improved to 11-1-1 over their last 13 overall.

Jannik Hansen and Sven Baertschi scored for Vancouver, and Ryan Miller stopped 28 shots. The Canucks dropped their third in a row — all at home — to fall to 0-5-1 over their last six at Rogers Arena. Daniel Sedin added two assists.

The Ducks are 18-4-2 since Christmas and sit just two points behind the Kings for first in the Pacific Division after starting the season 1-7-2.

The Canucks, meanwhile, are eight points back of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The Ducks scored 2:03 into the second period when Rakell jumped off the bench on a change with Anaheim cycling and ripped his 15th of the season short-side on Miller.

Anaheim went up, 2-0, at 10:25 when Vatanen took a feed from Getzlaf on the power play and blasted a shot past Miller for his eighth. The goal came just 15 seconds after Vancouver’s Adam Cracknell was whistled for delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass.

Getzlaf made it 3-0 with his seventh at 4:14 of the third on a three-on-one break. Getzlaf let go a slap shot from inside the faceoff circle with the teams playing four on four just seconds after Gibson stopped Hansen on a two-on-one.

Manson then stretched the lead to 4-0 just 27 seconds later by poking a puck behind Miller for his fourth.

Hansen got Vancouver on the board at 6:18 when he tipped Sedin’s feed past Gibson for his 17th, and Baertschi made it 4-2 with his 12th at 11:58 on a power play. Bieksa added his third into an empty net with 2:31 left to deal the Canucks’ dwindling playoff hopes another blow.

After coming out flat in back-to-back 5-2 home losses to Toronto and Minnesota, Vancouver had a better start against Anaheim, but the Ducks came closest early when Bieksa’s point shot found its way through traffic and hit the post behind Miller.

Gibson then made a nice stop on Sedin at the other end on a two-on-one rush seconds after a Canucks’ penalty expired.