John Gibson makes 31 saves, Ducks defeat Flames

CALGARY -- Jakob Silfverberg scored the game-winning goal in his 300th NHL game, and John Gibson made 31 saves to help the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.
Antoine Vermette had a goal and an assist, and Rickard Rakell scored for the Ducks (18-12-7), who ended a three-game losing streak (0-1-2).
"The last few games have been tight, and we've ended up on the losing side of it," Silfverberg said. "It was a big win for us, and hopefully this will bring some momentum coming into a tough game tomorrow against Vancouver. Hopefully, we can keep building off this."

WATCH: All Ducks vs. Flames highlights
Mikael Backlund scored, and Chad Johnson made 22 saves for the Flames (19-17-2), who lost for the first time in three games.
"The frustrating part for me is we approached this as a playoff game, and I thought we did some really good things," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We had lots of guys playing, and I thought it was a great hockey game. But yet, there was some cheating going on from our group, and that can't happen. … There is no margin for cheating."
Silfverberg put Anaheim up 2-1 at 5:37 of the third period. He shot by Johnson's blocker on a 2-on-1 to score in his third consecutive game.
"Just one of those that comes off quickly and it is in the back of your head pretty much," Silfverberg said. "I can't say I looked too much at the net. I just tried to fire it quick, and it happened to find a pretty good spot."

Rakell scored on the power play at 8:30 to give Anaheim a 3-1 lead. It was his Ducks-leading 15th goal.
Backlund beat Gibson at 11:09 of the first period to put the Flames up 1-0 with his fourth goal and seventh point during a three-game point streak. With an assist, rookie Matthew Tkachuk extended his point streak to five games (one goal, five assists).
Vermette tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal on a pass from Corey Perry at 6:16 of the second period. Johnson stopped Kevin Bieksa's initial shot, and Perry battled for the rebound in the crease before passing between his skates to Vermette at the side of the net.
"Discipline again kind of killed our momentum when we had it," Johnson said. "They're one of the best power plays there, and they made some plays and capitalized on them."

Goal of the game

After Ryan Kesler chipped the puck into the neutral zone, Silfverberg skated in with Andrew Cogliano on a 2-on-1 and shot by Johnson's blocker for the game-winner. "I was thinking pass first, but then their D made a pretty good play and slid, and I just had to get the shot off quick and it managed to find it's way in," Silfverberg said.

Save of the game

Gibson made a blocker save on Dennis Wideman's one-timer to keep Anaheim within one 2:50 into the second period after a setup by Sam Bennett and with Alex Chiasson crashing through the crease. "We knew we needed to win," Gibson said. "We had to do what we had to do, and we executed."

Unsung performance of the game

Anaheim defenseman Hampus Lindholm slid back to break up a pass from Johnny Gaudreau to Chiasson on a 2-on-1 10:18 into the second period.

Highlight of the game

Off the rush, Backlund split between Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf and Bieksa before chipping a shot over Gibson's glove to give the Flames a 1-0 lead and extend his goal streak to three games.

They said it

"We talked about it. We talked about it, for sure. For sure, we talked about it. If you're an athlete and you're involved in professional sports and competitive sports, you're going to use all those things as motivation. That again is what makes up competitive people. We didn't like what happened in here last time. We had to make some amends." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle on their response to an 8-3 loss to the Flames on Dec. 4
"It was a playoff feel to it. I thought it was a good game, back and forth. Again, like playoff hockey, you can't take penalties. Good teams, they capitalize on opportunities. That was the difference tonight." -- Flames goaltender Chad Johnson

Need to know

Johnson has lost four straight starts after being in net for six consecutive wins from Nov. 30-Dec. 10. … Flames defenseman Dougie Hamilton and Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen did not play because of illness. … Anaheim defenseman Brandon Montour made his NHL debut. The Ducks selected him in the second round (No. 55) of the 2014 NHL Draft.

What's next

Wild: At the Vancouver Canucks on Friday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Flames: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN360, SN1, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)