Making his second career start, Lukas Dostal more than held his own in a goaltender's duo with the 18-year veteran Fleury. In his first three career NHL appearances, Dostal has stopped 78-of-83 shots for a 2.12 goals against average and .907 save percentage.
Fleury made 38 saves in his 70th career shutout, which leads active NHL goalies and ranks 14th all-time. The 37-year-old has won four straight games, stopping 119-of-124 (.960) shots in that span.
Brandon Hagel, Patrick Kane and Dominik Kubalik scored for Chicago.
The loss marked three straight defeats for the Ducks, who are now 2-6-1 since the NHL's holiday break. Anaheim is second in the Pacific Division in points (19-15-7, 45 points) but fifth by point percentage (.549), narrowly ahead of sixth-place San Jose.
The setback also continued Anaheim's road struggles, dropping the club to 7-9-3 away from Honda Center this season. The Ducks are 12-6-4 on home ice.
Defenseman Brendan Guhle made his season debut for Anaheim, posting one shot, one blocked shot and three hits in 16:38 of ice time. Guhle played alongside Josh Manson in Cam Fowler's place, after Fowler was put in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol earlier Saturday.
The two goaltenders both played a strong opening period, combining for 26 saves and each shutting down a couple quality scoring chances. Fleury did his best work shutting down Buddy Robinson backhand bid in tight. Dostal responded minutes later, lunging to his side to stop a Jonathan Toews shot just before the goal line.
The Blackhawks finally broke through for the night's first goal on a miscue by Anaheim's power-play unit. As Erik Gustafsson's roughing penalty ended, the offensively-minded defenseman raced down a loose puck dumped into Anaheim's zone, waiting for the trailing Hagel, who beat Dostal with a wrist shot from point-blank range.
Chicago nearly doubled the advantage late in the frame on a 2-on-1 rush that looked like it was going to become Lukas Reichel's first NHL goal, but Dostal dove across to the far post, denying the shot with an incredible blocker save.
Trailing by a goal in the third period, Anaheim came inches from tying the game on a mad goalfront scramble. Hampus Lindholm and Derek Grant frantically searched for a loose puck in the Chicago crease, but Gustafsson swept it free from harm's way to keep Chicago ahead. The Blackhawks would immediately take advantage of the new life just seconds later, executing an odd-man rush that Kane finished off on the backdoor.
The Ducks sent plenty of traffic Fleury's way in the third period, but could not get anything by the cagey veteran, getting shut out for just the second time this season. Kubalik capped the scoring with an empty-netter.
The Ducks will return to Southern California to take on Colorado Wednesday night at Honda Center.
