Ducks beat Blue Jackets in a shootout to improve points streak to six games
Trevor Zegras and Rickard Rakell scored in the shootout and the Ducks rallied past the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 Thursday night for their second straight win.
Isac Lundestrom scored for Anaheim and John Gibson stopped 33 shots for his fourth consecutive win against Columbus. The Ducks have points in six straight games (4-0-2).
“Anytime you can find a way to get two points on the road, it’s a win,” Gibson said. “It might not be the prettiest, and especially with some guys out, but finding ways to get points and especially get wins is huge. Hopefully it’s going to help us a lot down the long run.”
Dallas’ Jason Robertson will play his first game at Staples Center, where he often went as a youth. He’s the third player of Filipino heritage in NHL history.
Alexandre Texier scored for the Blue Jackets and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 25 shots in the loss.
Columbus has lost six of seven.
“We ran into a pretty good goalie, and we had some good looks,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “There are going to be tight games. We’ve got to try and find a way to squeak out that other point, but the effort was good.“
Texier put Columbus on the board first, burying a cross-crease pass from Eric Robinson 8:02 into the first for his career-high ninth goal of the year. Texier has 12 points in the past 16 games.
The lead was short-lived, as Lundestrom took a lucky bouncing puck and beat Merzlikins one on one at 10:23 of the first.
“It’s been rare that where we’ve had more than two guys having an off night,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “Tonight, we had seven or eight. When that’s happening, that puts a lot of pressure on our goaltender. But thankfully we have a world-class one in Gibby. That was just an unbelievable performance.”
Zach Werenski appeared to put Columbus back in front just 52 seconds into the second period but the goal was waved off for offside, the fifth such call against Columbus in the past eight games.
The Ducks have points in their past six games.
With the NHL season now in December, the Ducks and Kings appear to be on different paths. The Times’ hockey crew discusses in the latest roundtable.
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