Vrana, Capitals edge Ducks for sixth straight win

ANAHEIM --Jakub Vrana had a goal and an assist for the Washington Capitals in a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Friday.

Travis Boyd and Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored, and Braden Holtby made 27 saves for the Capitals (22-4-5), who have won six in a row and are 14-2-1 on the road.
Washington won at the San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and Ducks on the same road trip for the first time in its history.
WATCH: [All Capitals vs. Ducks highlights]
"Found three totally different games, three totally different ways to try to win and get the outcome we wanted," Capitals coach Todd Reirden said.
Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Miller made 33 saves in his second straight start for the Ducks (12-13-4), who failed to win consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 29-Nov. 1.

"Despite some hiccups throughout the game, I thought we played really hard," Getzlaf said. "We had lots of opportunities. They're a good hockey team. They're opportunistic. We came out on the wrong end of it."
Adam Henrique scored 45 seconds into the third period on a wrist shot short side from the right circle to tie it 2-2. It was his first goal since Oct. 29 (15 games).
Vrana scored 52 seconds later to give Washington a 3-2 lead at 1:37. After stealing a clearing attempt from Ducks defenseman Brendan Guhle, his initial shot was saved by Miller, but he got his own rebound and scored with a backhand into an open net from the slot.
"Once you shoot it it's tough to control the rebound, right?" Vrana said. "But this one ends up right around the net, so I'm just going to follow the shot. That's what I did."
Boyd made it 1-0 at 9:00 of the first period, receiving a pass from Carl Hagelin from behind the net and shooting from a sharp angle along the right goal line off Miller's leg into the net.

"We knew it was going to be a battle out there tonight," Boyd said. "We talked about trying to get off to a good start here. I'm able to get the first goal and instead of playing behind, got a little bit ahead of the game."
Holtby made 14 saves in the first period.
Kuznetsov extended the lead to 2-0 at 5:10 of the second period, beating Miller five-hole with a shot from the right circle on the power play after Erik Gudbranson was called for unsportsmanlike conduct on Garnet Hathaway.

Ducks forward Sam Steel appeared to score on a power play at 11:15 of the second, but Reirden challenged the play for offside, and the call was reversed after a video review.
Getzlaf cut it to 2-1 at 17:03 of the second. Troy Terry poked the puck off the stick of Brendan Leipsic at the side of the goal, and Getzlaf collected the turnover and scored in the slot.
"Tonight, above all things, one thing that we brought to the table was the passionate side of hockey back," Gudbranson said. "This group is really good at that, but we took it to another level."

They said it

"Our guys were prepared. I have no trouble with my team playing any type of style of hockey that anyone wants to play against us. We'll take care of ourselves in those situations." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden
"We played a good hockey game against a good hockey team. Realistically, that game could have gone either way. A few bounces there, a few bounces here. We played a very good hockey game and we can take that from it, but we still want to win, so that hurts." -- Ducks defenseman Erik Gudbranson

Need to know

Washington swept a four-game road trip for second time in its history (Feb. 9-16, 1993). ... Capitals defenseman John Carlson had an assist on Kuznetsov's goal and has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak. ... Getzlaf has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past nine games and 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in an eight-game point streak against Washington. ... Anaheim is 0-10-3 when outshooting its opponent. … Ducks forward Nick Ritchie sustained a lower-body injury following a hit by Capitals defenseman Radko Gudas at 17:47 of the first period.

What's next

Capitals: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSWA, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Ducks: At the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-W, NHL.TV)