Ducks halt three-game slide
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf snapped an 18-game goal drought as the Ducks beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Saturday night at sold-out SAP Center.
Goalie Jonathan Bernier turned back 21 of 23 shots to help the Ducks break a three-game losing streak and snap San Jose's three-game winning streak.
San Jose managed only five shots in the third period and lost the services of defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic to an undisclosed injury after the second period.
The teams traded goals in the second period as Anaheim took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
San Jose gained the equalizer at 9:43 when defenseman Dylan DeMelo's low wrist shot from the right point flew past two Ducks and two teammates -- forwards Micheal Haley and Ryan Carpenter -- to beat the screened Bernier.
DeMelo was appearing for the second time in three games as fellow defenseman Brenden Dillon missed his first game of the season. DeMelo's third career goal in 47 games was his first since last Feb. 11.
But Anaheim struck back to take the lead as a result of converting on its first power-play chance of the game.
With defenseman Justin Braun off for elbowing Anaheim right winger Corey Perry, Getzlaf scored for the first time since Oct. 16 with a wide-open shot from the slot.
Ryan Kesler spotted Getzlaf from the opposite corner and Jones had little chance as Getzlaf's wrist shot sailed over his left shoulder at 12:59.
The Ducks took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission after a frenzied opening 20 minutes that saw the Sharks score first and Anaheim tie it on a controversial goal.
Center Logan Couture's hard and high wrist shot from the top of the right circle sailed over Bernier's glove for a power-play goal 42 seconds into Anaheim defenseman Hampus Lindholm's delay-of-game penalty. Couture's seventh goal came at 8:40.
The visitors struck 64 seconds later when speedy Ducks forward Ryan Garbutt picked off a Paul Martin pass inside the Anaheim blue line, blew past San Jose defenseman Brent Burns and crashed into Jones.
The ruling on the ice was the puck crossed the goal line before the net came off, but San Jose coach Peter DeBoer challenged the call on the basis Garbutt forced the puck over the goal line because of his hard contact with the netminder.
DeBoer lost his challenge as the league determined Burns pushed Garbutt into Jones.
The Ducks broke the 1-1 tie at 13:21 when left winger Rikard Rakell redirected a Perry deflection in close past Jones for his eighth goal of the season.
NOTES: The Ducks were winless in 12 games (0-8-4) when failing to score more than two goals this season before Saturday. ... San Jose recalled C Ryan Carpenter and RW Barclay Goodrow from the AHL's Barracuda. Carpenter stepped into the lineup as fourth-line center while Goodrow was a healthy scratch. ... F Tommy Wingels (lower body) joined injured San Jose teammates C Tomas Hertl (knee) and LW Melker Karlsson (ankle) Saturday after playing less than a period on Friday. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said Wingels is day-to-day. Karlsson was placed on injured reserve having missed his seventh straight on Saturday while Hertl is week-to-week. ... Anaheim played without injured C Joseph Cramarossa (lower body), D Clayton Stoner (lower body), C Nate Thompson (Achilles) and D Simon Despres (conussion symptoms). ... San Jose completes a five-game homestand on Tuesday against Arizona. ... Anaheim next hosts Montreal on Tuesday. ... D Dylan DeMelo appeared for the second time in three games as San Jose D Brenden Dillon did not dress for the first time this season. ... C Chris Wagner and D Shea Theodore were Anaheim's healthy scratches.