*Photo from the Los Angeles Times*
This team is hard to keep down for very long. Ryan Strome had two assists, Frank Vatrano had two goals and an assist, and the Anaheim Ducks defeated the San Jose Sharks with a 4-1 victory on Sunday night in Anaheim.
The Ducks snapped a brief two game skid with the win, improving to 7-3-0 in their last 10 games as they stand with an 8-6-0 record and 4th place in the Pacific Division. Vatrano upped his goal total to 11 with his two goal game, leading the Ducks and tied for 3rd in the NHL in goals.
Anaheim head coach Greg Cronin said of Vatrano's play that "Frankie is an easy guy to coach because he's a high-energy guy. He's got a very high standard for self-accountability, so when you're trying to coach players to a level they're not comfortable playing at, he's an easy guy to push himself to those zones. Frankie's DNA is to play at that level all the time."
At the 4:49 mark of the first period, Vatrano scored his first goal of the game and 10th of the season, giving the Ducks a 1-0 lead. Luke Kunin added the equalizer for the Sharks 13:05 into the period, scoring his second goal of the season. Vatrano added a power play goal late in the period to make it 2-1 Ducks after one period.
With the second period going scoreless, it was still 2-1 entering the 3rd. Mason McTavish then scored for the Ducks, giving them a 3-1 lead 1:52 into the 3rd on a power play goal. It wasn't even a full minute later that Radko Gudas scored for the Ducks, making it a 4-1 game with assists from Strome and Vatrano.
Vatrano said of the win that "We were committed for the full 60 minutes. I think we played a simple game. We got in on the forecheck, limited turnovers and just played a good team game. When we're breaking the puck out and we're going up the ice as a group, I think that's when we're creating our offense."
Drawing the start in net for the Ducks was John Gibson, who had a stellar performance as he got the win. Gibson made 25 saves on the 26 shots he was tested with by the Sharks, good for a .962 save percentage as his record is now 3-4-0 in 8 starts.
Getting the start between the pipes for the Sharks was MacKenzie Blackwood, who got the loss as his record dropped to 2-7-1 in 10 starts. Blackwood turned aside 40 out of the 44 shots on goal that the Ducks had, which was good for a .909 save percentage.
Sharks head coach David Quinn said after the game that "Our power play has got to be better. I thought for a stretch we were playing at the tempo and the pace that we wanted to, and then they get the power-play goal late in the first to make it 2-1, and then we get our power plays and it really deflated us."
The Ducks hit the road to take on the Nashville Predators, with Gibson projected to start. The Sharks face the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, with Blackwood the expected starter.
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