Recap: Gibson Stars Again as Ducks Cap Road Trip with 3-2 Win Over Canes

John Gibson made 50 saves as the Ducks capped a four-game eastern road trip with back-to-back victories, tonight downing the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 at PNC Arena.
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With the win, Anaheim concluded the season's final extended eastern trek with a 2-1-1 record, earning points in the final three contests and tonight beating the NHL's second-ranked club.

The Ducks also improved to 19-34-7 in completing the season-sweep of the Metropolitan Division-leading Canes.
Trevor Zegras and Ryan Strome led the Ducks offensively with two assists apiece, helping Anaheim take a 2-0 lead early in the third period.
John Klingberg, Jakob Silfverberg and Troy Terry scored. Isac Lundestrom and Cam Fowler also tallied assists.
With his helper, Fowler became the first defenseman in franchise history, and the sixth player overall, to score 400 career points as a Duck.

Gibson continued his stellar run of play with another outstanding night in net for Anaheim, turning aside 50-of-52 Hurricanes shots.
Gibson became just the second goaltender in NHL history with three 50-save performances in the same month, and the first since Jan. 1963. Gibson leads all NHL goalies in saves (1,393) and games with 50-plus saves (3).
He also has five outings with 45-plus saves this season, while no other NHL goaltender has more than two.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jesper Fast scored for the Hurricanes, who fell to 39-11-8 on the season and saw their five-game winning streak snapped. Former Duck Frederik Andersen took the loss in net with 12 saves.
It took until late in the second period to find the game's first goal, in part thanks to cautious defensive play on either side in pair with a goaltending duel by a pair of former teammates.
Gibson was particulary strong in a second period controlled territorially by the Canes, most notably shutting down a tipped pass by defenseman Brent Burns off the rush and also flashing the leather with a sliding glove denial of Brady Skjei as a Carolina power play expired.
Klingberg broke the scoreless deadlock with just under four minutes to play in the second period, capitalizing on a scoring chance created by the forecheck of Strome and Zegras. As Anaheim retrieved a dump-in behind the Carolina net, Zegras worked his way to the corner and set up Klingberg for a one-timer in the right faceoff circle, where the offensively-minded blueliner hammered a slap shot past Anderson to put the Ducks ahead.

Klingberg now has eight points in his last eight games (2-6=8), including three points in consecutive wins over Washington and Carolina.
The first-year Duck has seven goals in his last 22 games, tied for fourth-most among NHL defensemen in that span. Since scoring the game-winning goal in overtime on Jan. 6 vs. San Jose, Klingberg's 11 even-strength points is tied for 16th among all league blueliners.
The assist marked Zegras' 30th of the season, making him the first Duck in franchise history with two 30-assist seasons prior to their age-22 season. Paul Kariya, Ryan Getzlaf and Cam Fowler are the only other Ducks with one 30-assist campaign at 21 or younger.

Less than a month from his 22nd birthday, Zegras leads the Ducks in points and assists this season. He owns 1-6=7 points in his last six games and 9-12=21 points in his last 20 appearances.
It would be more of the same early in the third, with Gibson stonewalling the Canes on one end and the Ducks capitalizing on quality looks in tight on the other. Once again Strome and Zegras set the play up, this time with Strome pulling the puck off the wall behind the net before finding Silfverberg open in the slot for one-timer that doubled Anaheim's lead.

Two nights after passing Bobby Ryan for seventh-most goals by a Duck, Silfverberg has now scored in back-to-back games and sits four goals shy of matching Steve Rucchin for sixth place in Ducks history.
With two helpers on the night, Strome has three points in his last three games (1-2=3).
The two-goal lead would last only 13 seconds though, as shortly following the subsequent neutral zone faceoff, Kotkanmiemi got behind Anaheim defense and snapped Gibson's shutout bid. The former third overall pick easily won the race to a high-arching clearing attempt at neutral ice, beating Gibson's with a wrister over the glove as Simon Benoit tried to race in with a last-second stick check.
The 22-year-old Kotkaniemi has four goals in his last seven games and eight points (4-4=8) in his last nine contests.
Terry delivered a massive insurance goal with eight minutes to play, restoring Anaheim's two-goal cushion. Moments after yet another key save by Gibson, Terry protected the puck on his way to the slot, spinning away from a Canes defender and beating Andersen high to the short side to put the Ducks ahead 3-1.

The All-Star winger has goals in each of his first two games since returning from a lower-body injury. Terry has 3-5=8 points in his last seven games and 3-8=11 points in his last 10 appearances.

Lundestrom also collected an assist and now has points in consecutive games.
Again though, the two-goal lead would be quite short lived, this time lasting 94 seconds before Fast brought the hosts right back within one. Defenseman Brett Pesce took the original shot from the right point, but Fast's tip in the slot changed the puck's course from Gibson's right to his left, sneaking by his glove hand to welcome back the tension of a late one-goal hockey game.
Unfortunately for Carolina, the Ducks defense and their brick wall netminder shut it down from there, locking down a 3-2 win in the night's dying minutes. Gibson's 50th and final save might have been his best, a lunging stop on Andrei Svechnikov from the low slot.
The Ducks return home to host the Chicago Blackhawks Monday on Angels Night at Honda Center.