Rakell, Gibson lead Ducks past Avalanche
DENVER -- Rickard Rakell had a goal and an assist, John Gibson had 33 saves, and the Anaheim Ducks beat the struggling Colorado Avalanche 4-1 on Thursday night.
Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry and Jakob Silfverberg also scored and Ryan Getzlaf had an assist in his return to the lineup for Anaheim.
The Ducks (23-13-8) have won five of their last six games and have earned at least one point in nine of their last 10 games. Gibson has been in net for all 10 games, with the only loss coming against the red-hot Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped 28 shots in his return to action after missing seven games with a groin injury, and Nathan MacKinnon scored the only goal for Colorado.
The Avalanche (13-26-1) played for the first time since beating the New York Islanders on Jan. 6 to end a 10-game winless streak at home. Colorado couldn't sustain what little momentum it had coming off the five-day break, losing for the 11th time in 13 games.
Colorado had two power-play chances in the third period to cut into Anaheim's lead but couldn't beat Gibson. The Avalanche are 3 for 50 on the power play over the last 13 games.
Varlamov came off for an extra skater with 2:50 left and Perry scored into the empty net at 18:24.
The Avalanche had the first five shots on goal, but the Ducks struck first when Silfverberg blocked Francois Beauchemin's shot, took the puck into the Colorado zone and beat Varlamov to make it 1-0 at 3:52 of the first period.
MacKinnon tied it 1:32 later when he poked the puck away from Hampus Lindholm at center ice, stick-handled into the Anaheim end and beat Gibson with a backhander for his 11th goal of the season.
Rakell gave Anaheim the lead again at 6:15 with a shot from above the right circle for his 17th goal of the season.
Anaheim made it 3-1 at 6:03 of the second period when Varlamov made a save of Shea Theodore's wraparound chance but couldn't locate the rebound and Kesler knocked it in for his 17th goal of the season.
NOTES: Avalanche G Semyon Varlamov had not played since Dec. 22 due to the groin injury. He served as Calvin Pickard's backup in the Jan. 6 win over the New York Islanders. ... Anaheim C Ryan Getzlaf missed four games with a lower-body injury before returning to the lineup Thursday night. ... Avalanche D Erik Johnson, who suffered a broken fibula Dec. 3, is progressing but will likely be out until mid-February. ... The Ducks recalled D Shea Theodore and RW Stefan Noesen from San Diego of the AHL and assigned D Brandon Montour to the Gulls. ... Avalanche LW Blake Comeau played in his 600th NHL game on Thursday.