Lukas Dostal earns his first shutout as Ducks end seven-game losing streak
Rookie Lukas Dostal made 29 saves for his first NHL shutout, Alex Killorn had his second two-goal game of the season and the Ducks beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 on Thursday night to snap a seven-game losing streak.
“A shutout is something special, but I’m just glad we could take a win. We played a great game. I didn’t have a play with the puck deep, and we played the right way,” said Dostal, who became the third rookie goalie in franchise history to record a shutout, joining John Gibson (six) and Ilya Bryzgalov (one).
Frank Vatrano got his 30th goal of the season midway through the third period when the Ducks had a two-man advantage. He is the second undrafted player in franchise history to reach the 30-goal mark — joining Andy McDonald, who scored 34 in 2005-06.
The Ducks lost their seventh game in a row, this time to Minnesota, and are blanked for the third time in four games.
Brett Leason had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who had been outscored 35-7 during their skid.
“This was a huge game for us. We had some meetings and we wanted to get off the slide. So it was a great response,” said Killorn, who has 14 goals this season — six in his last 10 games.
Arvid Soderblom made 21 saves for Chicago, which has dropped three of its last four.
“Again, we let the opponent be harder than us. That’s what we try to talk about and work on in practice, in certain areas and it kind of came back on us again today. Then frustration set in,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said.
Ducks rookie Leo Carlsson, the second overall pick in last year’s draft, did not return after being involved in a knee-on-knee collision with Chicago defenseman Alex Vlasic during the second period. Carlsson already has missed 20 games because of a knee sprain and concussion.
Killorn got the Ducks on the board at 3:10 of the second period when he tipped in Gustav Lindstrom’s shot.
After Leason’s wrist shot beat Soderblom at 9:34, Killorn buried a snap shot from the left faceoff circle with 1:34 remaining to make it 3-0.
Vatrano’s power play goal marked the first time in six games the Ducks scored with the man advantage. It also snapped a nine-game goal drought for the forward, who made his first NHL All-Star game this season.
“When you lose seven straight, there’s some anxiety involved,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “I thought the first period was a little bit tentative. We weren’t getting shots through. And then as the game went on, I thought we got more confident. And when we got that first goal, you could feel a lot of weight lift off the bench.”
Up next for the Ducks: vs. Tampa Bay at Honda Center on Sunday.
