ANAHEIM, Calif. — With the Ducks losing so many men to injury, Anaheim players roll their eyes when asked about the team’s health troubles.
It happened again Monday as the team got two players back from injured reserve but saw leading scorer Corey Perry go down with an apparent knee injury.
Logan Shaw scored the decisive goal and John Gibson recorded 28 saves as the Ducks ended their three-game homestand with a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night at Honda Center.
The Ducks got help from their depth as well as a breakaway goal by Jakob Silfverberg to take the win. Silfverberg missed the prior five games due to injury.
The Ducks (13-11-7) celebrated captain Ryan Getzlaf’s return to the lineup but saw Perry leave in the first period after an unintentional collision with Hurricanes left winger Jeff Skinner.
Anaheim has notched points in five consecutive games and has won two of the past three. Shaw, who also recorded an assist, had his second multi-point game of the season, the third of his career.
“Hopefully we can keep guys healthy, but obviously, that’s out of our control,” Gibson said. “You saw what happened tonight, but I mean, we know now that who we have is who we have. To get those two guys (Getzlaf and Silfverberg) back is nice, but we’ve just got to keep going.”
Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle added, “Injection of skill and top-level players. I feel good about our hockey club.”
Carlyle noted that Perry was at a local hospital for evaluation.
The Hurricanes (11-11-7) went winless on their three-game California road trip, although they took both the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings to overtime. Carolina has one win in the past seven games.
Anaheim scored the winning goal, Shaw’s second of the season, at 1:52 of the third period for a 3-1 lead. Shaw fired to the blocker side of goalie Scott Darling, playing without his stick. Andy Welinski, appearing in his first NHL game, got the primary assist. Antoine Vermette contributed the secondary assist.
Carolina’s Justin Williams opened the scoring at 1:37 of the first period with his sixth goal. Getzlaf, playing his first shift after missing 19 games due to a broken cheekbone, lost a faceoff to Derek Ryan. Trevor van Riemsdyk fired the puck from the blue line, and Williams redirected the slap shot in the high slot, fooling Gibson.
The Ducks tied the game at 5:55 of the first, with Derek Grant scoring his sixth goal. Grant carried the puck across the blue line and dished to Shaw, who fired a wrister that trickled to the ice after hitting Darling’s left leg pad. Grant stretched to poke the puck over the goal line.
Anaheim went ahead 2-1 when Silfverberg got his seventh goal unassisted at 19:25 of the second period. Ducks center Andrew Cogliano chipped the puck out of his zone, and Carolina defenseman Haydn Fleury muffed it and fell down on the play at center ice. Silfverberg grabbed the loose puck, zoomed in, and fired up and over Darling’s shoulder into the top corner.
“Tough break on their second one,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. “Not much going on and we got three guys back looking like we’re going to have the puck, and the ice wasn’t obviously very good and we talked about it after one (period), either the ice was soft or the puck was soft, because the puck was bouncing.”
Silfverberg said, “I was kind of surprised. I was a bit lucky. I just wanted to get a shot off. I didn’t want to get too cute.”
The Hurricanes got a late goal from Victor Rask, his seventh, at 17:20 of the third period. Gibson saved a van Riemsdyk slap shot from the point. As the puck sat in front, Skinner had a whack at it, but Rask put it in from the left side of the crease.
Peters said, “We got it to 3-2, and in the third, when we pushed, I thought we got some real good looks.”
Darling finished with 20 saves.
NOTES: The Ducks scratched LW Nick Ritchie, D Korbinian Holzer and C Joseph Blandisi. Ritchie was hurt Friday against Minnesota. … The Hurricanes scratched D Klas Dahlbeck and LW Phillip Di Giuseppe. … The Ducks recalled D Andy Welinski from San Diego (AHL) on Monday, and he was a plus-1 in his NHL debut vs. Carolina. … Anaheim assigned RW Jared Boll, LW Kevin Roy and D Jaycob Megna to San Diego on Monday.
