Ducks end 8-game losing streak, defeat Avalanche in shootout

ANAHEIM -- The Anaheim Ducks ended an eight-game losing streak with a 4-3 shootout victory against the Colorado Avalanche at Honda Center on Saturday.

The losing streak began with an 8-2 loss to the Avalanche on Nov. 15.

Leo Carlsson and Alex Killorn each had a goal and an assist, and John Gibson made 34 saves for the Ducks (10-14-0), who trailed 3-1 after the first period.

"The losing streak, it eats away at you," Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. "We actually should have won three or four games in the eight that we lost."

Gibson, who played his 448th game for Anaheim, passing Jean-Sebastien Giguere for most by a goalie in team history, stopped Jonathan Drouin, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen in the shootout.

"Everything he's done for the organization, you just feel good about it once it happens," Killorn said of Gibson's milestone. "He's put so much into this and he played great tonight."

Bowen Byram scored two goals, and Ivan Prosvetov made 34 saves for the Avalanche (15-6-2), who have lost two straight games but extended their point streak to six games (4-0-2).

"We're just not generating enough offense for a full game," Colorado defenseman Devon Toews said. "We had a good first 20 (minutes), we thought we did a lot of really good things we talked about, and then we just kind of faded from there."

Carlsson, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, scored the lone goal of the shootout in his first attempt, pulling the puck to Prosvetov's glove side to get him to slide to his right and then pulling it back to his stick side before scoring into the wide open net.

"I don't want to say nothing special, but the nerves were the same," Carlsson said of the shootout. "I kind of lost the puck there, so I was nervous for a tenth of a second and after that, I knew I had him, so it was a good shot."

After Prosvetov turned aside a breakaway by Brett Leason 22 seconds into the game, Byram finished off a 3-on-2 rush with a wrist shot from the slot to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead 36 seconds into the game.

Anaheim was pressuring Colorado in its zone when Josh Manson made a clearing pass that sprung a 2-on-1 breakaway, and Byram finished it off with a wrist shot for a 2-0 lead at 8:59 of the first.

The Ducks cut it to 2-1 at 14:05 on the power play when Ryan Strome centered a pass through the top of the crease to Adam Henrique, who redirected the puck into the net.

Toews scored with a wrist shot from the right circle to make it 3-1 with 43 seconds left in the first.

"We were down in the first, but we played well," Gibson said. "We just gave them two odd-man rushes and they capitalized, but we just stuck with it. We knew it was a long game, we knew we had some pretty good legs going."

Colorado defenseman Jack Johnson had an open net on a wraparound, but Sam Carrick used his stick blade to save a goal at 2:39 of the second period.

Carlsson scored from the slot off a backhand feed from Killorn 19 seconds later to cut the lead to 3-2 at 2:58 of the second period.

Killorn tied the game 3-3 at 10:22 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle with one second left on a power play. It was his 200th NHL goal.

"We had some self-inflicted mistakes in the second," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "But in the third, I thought we played really well. We had two breakaways, some real nice tip plays in the net front, some scrambles, but couldn't get the go-ahead goal."

Colorado defenseman Cale Makar, who is tied for fourth in the NHL with 34 points, did not play the end of regulation or overtime because of an undisclosed injury. Bednar did not have an update after the game.

Ducks forward Mason McTavish left the game with an upper-body injury late in the first period after he was hit by Manson. He is second on the Ducks in goals (10) and points (21).  Cronin did not have an update.

NOTES: Killorn has two goals in 14 games this season and had 198 in 815 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning. … It was the third two-goal game of Byram's NHL career (Feb. 18, 2023 against St. Louis Blues; Nov. 3, 2021 against Columbus Blue Jackets). … Colorado defensemen have scored 19 goals this season, one behind Montreal for the most in the NHL. ... Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin had his NHL career-high nine-game point streak end (eight goals, five assists). ... Colorado had won 13 consecutive games in California and was 10-1-0 against Anaheim in its past 11 games. ... The Ducks have allowed a goal on the opponent's first shot the past two games and have allowed a combined seven goals in the past two first periods.