What we learned from the Ducks’ 3-2 win over the Sharks

The post-All-Star break, Pacific Division showdown lived up to the hype.

Rarely do early February games garner such buzz, but the Ducks and San Jose were both surging when they met Tuesday at Honda Center, and a 3-2 win by the Ducks set the tone for the week ahead.

Here’s what we learned:

Frederik Andersen doesn’t want to give up the net. Somewhat forgotten because of John Gibson’s play, Andersen won his season-high fourth straight game and helped bail out the Ducks during a last-minute onslaught by San Jose.

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He has allowed two goals or fewer in 18 of his 25 appearances this season.

“We’ve got two young goalies that are competing and vying to be No.1, and that makes a really good competition,” Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It works for us right now.”

Ryan Getzlaf is (almost) back in form. Remember when the Ducks captain was stumbling at both ends of the rink with egregious turnovers and inexplicable passes?

He’s been much sharper since his pairing with David Perron, and their chemistry was on display when Getzlaf twice set up Perron with nifty passes.

Getzlaf, who assisted on Hampus Lindholm’s first shorthanded goal, is still looking for his first even-strength goal and has three total this season. He has assists in eight of his past nine games.

The Ducks aren’t used to this two-man advantage thing. The Ducks rank last in the NHL in power-play opportunities, so they haven’t had many five-on-three advantages.

That would explain why they couldn’t convert on two such situations.

“Quite frankly, we haven’t practiced five-on-three a lot,” Boudreau said. “We’ll get working on that right way. But, I mean, when you get five-on-threes, that’s a license to score. You have to score or usually the other team comes up and wins.”

Follow Curtis Zupke on Twitter @CurtisZupke