John Gibson, Ducks shut out Red Wings

ANAHEIM-- John Gibson made 23 saves, and rookies Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie scored to help the Anaheim Ducks defeat the Detroit Red Wings 2-0 at Honda Center on Wednesday.
Gibson got his second shutout of the season and his eighth in the NHL three days after he made 51 saves in a 4-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.
"We held ourselves accountable to have a bounce-back game," Gibson said. "We did a good job of slowing them down in the neutral zone. They're a fast team, and that's where they get a lot of offense from, so I think we executed our game plan really well."

WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Ducks highlights
Kase had an assist, and linemate Antoine Vermette had two.
"We're all on the same page and we have chemistry," Ritchie said. "We all do different things on the ice. We complement each other. It was good tonight. Hopefully we can string together a couple of games and stay together."
Kase scored with 2:54 left in the third period, shortly after the Ducks (20-12-8) killed a minor penalty, to make it 2-0. Ritchie made it 1-0 at 13:54 of the first period when he tipped in a rebound of a shot by Vermette.
The Red Wings appeared to tie it 1-1 1:23 into the second period when Brendan Smith scored on a rebound, but Gibson was down in the crease and Ducks coach Randy Carlyle challenged citing goalie interference. The goal was overturned after review.

Petr Mrazek made 22 saves for the Red Wings (16-17-5). He's 1-4-0 in his past five starts, but Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said he liked the dynamic saves he made to keep the game close.
"Really good game by Petr," Blashill said. "I thought he was a real bright spot. I thought he looked on top of his game, similar to what he has done when he's really done a good job. That was a real positive."
Detroit finished the game with four defensemen after Smith and Niklas Kronwall each sustained a lower-body injury in the second period.
The Ducks played without captain Ryan Getzlaf, who is day to day with a lower-body injury he sustained in the game Sunday.

Goal of the game

Ritchie's goal set the tone for the Ducks, who are 15-3-2 when scoring first, 11-2-1 when leading after the first period, and 13-0-1 when leading after the second.

Saves of the game

Gibson made three quick saves on Gustav Nyquist in the second period. With 3:45 left, Nyquist got off a quick wrist shot that bounced right back to him. He tried to bank the second shot off Gibson's pad and the rebound again went back to him. Nyquist tried a third time, and Gibson made a glove save and covered the puck.

Unsung performance of the game

The Red Wings, down to four defensemen, managed to outshoot the Ducks 9-5 in the third period.
"After losing some guys in the end, we couldn't find a way to get another one in," Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said.

Highlight of the game

A pass from Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler missed Vermette's stick but hit him on the heel of his skate. Vermette kicked the puck in Kase's direction, and he beat Mrazek with his backhand.

They said it

"It would've been nice if that goal stood, but it didn't. We got some momentum. We played decent in the first period. The first period was some of the best playing we've done in a long time. It would be nice if we could get some goals there. It would've been a different game." -- Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg
"We only gave up nine scoring chances from our tabulations, and that's a far cry from what we did the other night. That's the type of hockey we're going to have to play." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle

Need to know

The Red Wings haven't scored a power-play goal on the road since Oct. 19 (0-for-51). Detroit has scored two power-play goals in 20 road games. … Ryan Kesler played his 200th game with Anaheim.

What's next

Red Wings: At the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; SN, FS-W, FS-D, NHL.TV)
Ducks: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Friday (10 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-A, NHL.TV)