Ducks open homestand with win against Oilers

ANAHEIM -- Four players scored and John Gibson made a season-high 33 saves to help the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Honda Center on Tuesday.
Nick Ritchie, Cam Fowler, Ryan Kesler and Antoine Vermette scored for Anaheim (8-6-3), which opened a five-game homestand. Corey Perry had two assists and leads the Ducks with 15 points.

WATCH: All Oilers vs. Ducks highlights
Gibson bounced back after his shortest start of the season Saturday when he allowed four goals on 18 shots and was pulled with 3:03 left in the second period of a 5-0 loss at the Nashville Predators. He was credited with an assist on Fowler's goal.
"He was awesome. He gave us a chance to win the game and kept us in it," Fowler said. "Without him, they probably get a couple more. The only one that did go in was off my stick. I feel bad about that, but he was excellent tonight. Best player by far."
Leon Draisaitl scored and Cam Talbot made 23 saves for the Oilers (9-7-1), who have lost four in a row.
"I thought tonight, in comparison to a few others, we had more aggressive plays around the net and some open nets we missed," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "A lot of shots from the blue line that were blocked or missed the net, which was frustrating from an offensive perspective."
Ritchie scored his fourth of the season 7:13 into the game when he took a backhand feed from Ryan Getzlaf and went top shelf over Talbot to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead.
Fowler made it 2-0 with a 4-on-4 goal 2:23 into the second period.

Kesler scored a power-play goal at 7:51 when he caught a rebound in front of the crease and went to his backhand, getting it around the skate of an outstretched Talbot.
The Oilers then controlled the play throughout the rest of the second period and capitalized when Draisaitl scored an unassisted goal at 18:14.
"It's a bad bounce. What are you going to do?" Gibson said. "It's something you can't control. Cam goes to cover the guy and it hits off his stick."
Vermette made it 4-1 at 9:00 of the third period when he finished off a feed from Joseph Cramarossa on the rush.
"(Coach) Randy (Carlyle) does a good job of coming in between the second and third and explaining what we have to do," Kesler said. "Tonight it was about hitting the reset button and going back on the attack. When we did that, it frustrated them."

Goal of the game

Vermette's goal was much-needed insurance. The Oilers had momentum before Cramarossa led a 4-on-1 rush and found a trailing Vermette in the slot.

Save of the game

Gibson faced a barrage of shots in the final minutes of the second period, but gloved a hard shot from former teammate Pat Maroon with 14 seconds left to keep the score 3-1.

Unsung moment of the game

It was Gibson who started the series that led to Fowler's goal. Gibson kicked away a shot by Connor McDavid and it went right to Fowler, who carried it up the ice, passed to Jakob Silfverberg, got it back and beat Talbot with a quick wrist shot. Gibson was given the secondary assist.

Highlight of the game

Ritchie's goal was highlight-worthy but it came off of the prettiest play of the game, a backhand feed by Getzlaf.

They said it

"We are still doing some things that are good for our hockey club. We need to find five or six individuals, whether it's on the blue line or up front, and when the margins are so tight in this league, you can't get it done with average play from five or six guys." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan
"I think a lot of guys are still feeling good about themselves. We are getting there. This is a good defensive team. They play hard in their own zone and we were still able to generate some chances, which is a positive. We will build on that. It's the same story; we have to figure out a way to finish them." -- Oilers captain Connor McDavid
"We have a good game plan in place. We need to know how to hold a lead and win games. We've shown over the years we can do that, but we have to reprove it every year." -- Ducks goalie John Gibson

Need to know

Kesler has scored six goals this month, one shy of matching the career-best he set in Nov. 2010. … The Ducks have won three straight games at home, outscoring opponents 13-3 in that span. … McDavid's four-game point streak ended.

What's next

Oilers: At the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; SN360, FS-W,
NHL.TV
)
Ducks: Host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; PRIME, MSG+,
NHL.TV
)