Recap: Ducks Comeback Bid Falls Short in 5-2 Loss to Canes

Alex Killorn scored his 17th goal of the season and Trevor Zegras brought the Ducks back within one late in regulation, but Anaheim could not complete the comeback tonight in an 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at Honda Center.

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The loss dropped the Ducks to 30-32-8 on the season, 13 points back of a playoff position with 12 games still to play.

Killorn and Zegras provided the Anaheim offense, with the latter's goal making it a 3-2 game with three minutes to play in the third period. Jackson LaCombe and Jacob Trouba collected assists while Lukas Dostal made 32 saves in his 45th appearance of the season.

Taylor Hall netted his sixth career hat trick, including two late goals that halted Anaheim's comeback hopes. Jordan Martinook and Mark Jankowski also scored as the Canes improved to 43-23-4. Former Duck Frederik Andersen earned his 11th win of the season with stops on 35-of-37 Anaheim attempts.

After a scoreless opening frame, the night's first goal would not appear until midway through the second period when Jankowski found free space at the side of the net and chipped home a low shot by Tyson Jost from the high slot.

Acquired from Nashville earlier this month, Jankowski has scored six goals in his first seven games as a Hurricane.

Anaheim briefly pulled even later in the period on a 2-on-1 rush, with Killorn beating Andersen through the five-hole with center Leo Carlsson driving hard to the net.

Killorn, one of just three Ducks to appear in each of the club's 70 games this season, has now scored in consecutive games and owns four goals in his last six outings.

The assist gave LaCombe points in back-to-back games, and 37 points in 63 games this season. Late in his second NHL season, LaCombe has blossomed into of the game's best young defensemen - ranking among the league's top 10 blueliners in points, assists and even-strength points over the last three months.

Carolina would restore the one-goal lead a couple shifts later though, as Martinook fought off Isac Lundestrom's check to convert a rebound, again just outside the Anaheim crease.

Hall pushed the visitors' lead to 3-1 early in the third period with what would become a massive insurance marker, lifting home a power-play goal through a swarm of bodies in the low slot.

Anaheim then got back within a goal in the final minutes of regulation, seemingly setting up a dramatic finish when Zegras crashed the net hard and punched home a loose puck before Andersen could smother it.

The goal was Zegras' third point in the last two games, and his seventh in the last eight. The newly turned 24-year-old has recorded 14 points in 21 games since returning from a torn meniscus in January.

That would be as close as the Ducks would get though as a pair of Hall goals, the latter an empty-netter, sealed the veteran winger's hat trick and Carolina's 5-2 road win.

The Ducks continue a five-game homestand Wednesday against Boston.