John Gibson, Ducks shut out Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- John Gibson made 37 saves and Joseph Cramarossa scored for the Anaheim Ducks in a 1-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.
"I just battled. We knew it was going to be a hard game, and [we] just hung on," Gibson said. "If you worry about the end result it's not going to get you very far. We knew it was a big game. It wasn't the road trip we wanted and we knew if we could end on a good note it would kind of build confidence and salvage the trip."

WATCH: All Ducks vs. Wild highlights
Cramarossa scored at 4:38 of the first period.
The Ducks (30-18-10) went 2-3-1 on a season-long, six-game, 12-day road trip and, with 70 points, are three points behind the San Jose Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division.
"I thought we stood around for the first two periods of that hockey game doing nothing," Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said. "In saying that, we played a lot of good hockey on this road trip and didn't get results, so tonight I felt we deserved it.
"It was an ugly hockey game but we'll take it and go home."

The Wild (37-13-6) were shut out for the third time this season, the first since a 1-0 loss to the Calgary Flames on Nov. 15. Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves.
Minnesota played the fourth of an eight-game homestand, the longest in its history, and is 19-7-1 at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games and 13-4-1 in their past 18.
"You're never happy when you lose," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We're not happy. It was a valiant effort by our guys, but at the same time we didn't succeed in what we were trying to do."

Goal of the game

Ducks forward Corey Perry took a shot off the side wall and Cramarossa scored on the rebound.

Save of the game

Gibson denied Wild forward Zach Parise of a rebound chance at 8:11 of the first period.

Unsung performance of the game

Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm helped Gibson clear the crease and deprive Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon of a wide-open shot at 8:23 of the first. Lindholm also had two hits and three blocked shots.

Highlight of the game

Gibson made a sprawling save on Wild forward Eric Staal at 10:49 of the second period.

They said it

"We won the hockey game with the goaltending and an unlikely scorer in Cramarossa. You never think one goal's going to carry you to the finish but it was 1-0 and we'll take it and move on." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle
"Our goaltending has been outstanding. We do this after every game. Goalies are supposed to stop the puck and they've been playing great all year. Tonight was no different, we just played exceptionally poorly, I think it stood out a little bit more, but that's what his job is. He did a great job at it tonight and we're just happy to be going home with a win." -- Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf
"We tried. We can't win 'em all … I don't want to let it go. At the same time, I don't want to start the riot act because we lost the game. Let's strap our boots back on and see what we do. I don't know what the plan is yet as far as practice. We will figure it out and then we'll be ready for Dallas." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Need to know

Ducks forward Antoine Vermette was given a game misconduct at 7:33 of the third period for abuse of an official. "To me, these are things that the League reviews," Carlyle said. "We have a view on it, they have a view on it. Whatever they decide we have to live with. Obviously the puck was dropped when our player was not ready. … It looked like as if he was tapping him and just telling him a blow-the-whistle type of thing. It wasn't really a vicious or any type of malice thing. He wasn't trying to hurt anybody. It was more of a tap to blow the whistle type thing. He touched the official. So what are you going to do?" … Lindholm's assist tied Ruslan Salei (105) for eighth on the club's all-time points list for defensemen. Lindholm has four points (one goal, three assists) in the past three games.

What's next

Wild: Host the Dallas Stars on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Ducks: Host the Florida Panthers on Friday (10 p.m. ET; FS-F, SN1, PRIME, NHL.TV)