Ducks finish 3-1-1 road trip, defeat Oilers

EDMONTON -- A strong outing by goaltender John Gibson helped the Anaheim Ducks conclude a five-game road trip with a win and pulled them within a point of the Los Angeles Kings for first place in the Pacific Division.
Gibson made 27 saves for the Ducks in a 2-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place on Monday.

Corey Perry and Brandon Pirri scored for Anaheim (42-23-10) in its second consecutive victory to concluded the road trip 3-1-1. The Kings lost 5-2 at the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
"I thought we were resilient, but we were pretty sloppy tonight and we looked a little tired," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It was a good win for us to have at the end of a long road trip, allowing only one goal. They missed some opportunities, but [Gibson] was the difference in the game."

Nail Yakupov scored and goaltender Cam Talbot made 23 saves for the Oilers (30-42-7), who lost for the fourth time in their past five games and will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 10th consecutive season.
"I thought we gave everything we had tonight," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "You don't like to throw out a lot of accolades when you lose because the name of the game is winning and sending the fans home happy, but I thought tonight's game was a very competitive one against a good team.
"I thought we had enough chances and looks around the net to win the game and didn't give up a lot. Gibson made some big saves. We had some good scoring chances. I'm not sure that team has given up that much in a long time. Their goalie played well."
Perry scored on the Ducks' first shot at 4:02 for a 1-0 lead. Perry kept the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Talbot with a slap shot from the right circle.
"I just tried to pick my spot on the goalie," Perry said. "When I picked my head up coming over the blue line, I saw the goalie coming over and it's a tough shot to stop when it's about 13 inches above the ice."

Oilers forward Zack Kassian came close to tying the game later in the period, bringing the puck into the Ducks zone on a rush, giving it to Mark Letestu in the corner, then taking a return pass in front of the net. Kassian tipped the pass, but was stopped by Gibson, who kicked out his left pad to make the save.
Gibson made a number of good saves in the second period to keep Anaheim in front. He turned away Yakupov on a set-up in front from Leon Draisaitl, then stopped Kassian with another pad save.
"I felt good, I thought I was seeing the puck pretty good and when there were rebounds, my guys helped me out and cleared them out of the way," Gibson said. "I think we played a good game. They're a good team at home and we knew they were going to have a good push at the end and they did, and I think we did a good job of shutting them down."
Pirri put the Ducks up 2-0 at 12:48 of the second period, knocking Oilers defenseman Adam Clendening off the puck in the slot and shooting past Talbot.

The unassisted goal gave Pirri two goals and two assists in his past three games. Pirri was acquired by the Ducks from the Florida Panthers just prior to the NHL Trade Deadline last month.
"I'm just trying to get on the forecheck and playing hard," Pirri said. "Guys are giving me the business about being a power forward in the East and not so much in the West, so I had to bring my presence here. We're just happy to end the road trip on the right note, get back home and get back to work in the next couple of days."
Yakupov got the Oilers to within 2-1 at 11:40 of the third period, taking a pass from Hall in front and beating Gibson.
At the morning skate, Yakupov downplayed comments made to a Russian media outlet he requested a trade out of Edmonton prior to the deadline.
"I think the day affected him," McLellan said. "I think the [negative] response from the fans affected him. Once he got into the game, he played a little better as the night went on."

The Oilers had a number of chances to tie the game later in the period, but were unable to beat Gibson.
Jordan Eberle had an opportunity on a set up in front, but was unable to lift the puck over Gibson.
"I thought we played a solid game, just a couple of mental breaks, but I thought we played hard," Oilers forward Pat Maroon said, who played his former team for the first time. "If we play like this every night, this is going to be a good team moving forward. We're on the right path."
Ducks center Ryan Kesler returned after missing two games because of a personal issue. Defenseman Sami Vatanen returned after missing eight games with an upper-body injury.