What we learned from the Ducks’ 3-2 victory at Colorado

What we learned from the Ducks’ 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday:

They’re a plucky bunch, these Ducks

They won at Denver on Sunday by solidly protecting their third-string goaltender, Jason LaBarbera, who had to start on short notice after Frederik Andersen was scratched and John Gibson was injured during the warmups. They’re playing as well defensively as they have in a long time, establishing a strong identity as a solid defensive team.

“Yeah. Who’d have thunk?” Coach Bruce Boudreau said.

The Ducks were 3-1 in a swing through the heart of the Central Division, beating the Chicago Blackhawks, losing to the St. Louis Blues, and then winning one-goal games over the Dallas Stars and Colorado. They gave up five goals in those four games and killed all 15 disadvantages they faced. They’re also 6-0 in one-goal games this season.

Boudreau said Gibson’s injury didn’t appear to be serious and that Gibson likely would be examined on Monday, a day off for the team.

Thinking too much can be a detriment to success

LaBarbera, who was in goal for Friday and Saturday for two wins by the Ducks’ American Hockey League farm team in Norfolk, Va., came to Denver thinking he’d back up Gibson on Sunday and had very short notice that he’d have to start.

“I was coming off the ice after warmups and everyone’s kind of looking at me like, ‘Uh-oh, something happened. What’s going on?’” he said. “You don’t have a lot of time to get ready. Just go out and try to do what you do.

“It’s usually better not to have time to think about it. You just kind of take a couple deep breaths and refocus yourself. I played a good game, both games on the weekend, so you kind of go off that. I physically felt good but my head, I was in la-la land. It was tough to really get focused.”

The Ducks’ defense can score, too

Until Hampus Lindholm scored the tying goal on Sunday, taking a fine pass from Patrick Maroon and snapping home a shot from the slot, Sami Vatanen had been the only Ducks defenseman who had scored a goal this season (he had three). But 1 minute 44 seconds after Lindholm scored, fellow defenseman Cam Fowler scored his first goal of the season off a nifty bit of stickhandling down low.

“If you can get your ‘D’ scoring that adds just a whole new element to the game,” Boudreau said. “It was something I didn’t think we had a lot of last year but we’ve got the potential to have a little bit more this year.”

Vatanen and Lindholm were the Ducks’ ice-time leaders on Sunday, at 22:16 and 20:46, respectively. Boudreau didn’t hesitate to call on rookie Josh Manson for heavy minutes in Manson’s second NHL game, giving him 18:23 ice time, including 1:48 on the penalty kill.

Adding to the Ducks’ defense depth: Bryan Allen (lower-body injury) finished a conditioning stint in Norfolk and traveled to Denver with LaBarbera. However, the Ducks did not activate him off the injured reserve list.