Anaheim's offensive attack was wiped out by the Minnesota Wild tonight for the second time in a week, leading to a 4-0 loss at Honda Center in the opener of a three-game homestand.
The setback pushed Anaheim's winless skid to seven games and dropped the club to 23-43-3 on the season.
Ryan Hartman, Jon Merrill, Kirill Kaprizov and Jacob Lucchini scored for the Wild, who pushed their point streak to eight games and improved to 34-27-8 on the season - three points back of Vegas for the Western Conference's final Wild Card position. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson earned his sixth career NHL shutout with 26 saves.
John Gibson made 28 saves in his 43rd appearance of the season.
After a evenly played, scoreless first period, Minnesota took control in the early moments of the middle frame.
Hartman scored on the first shift of the period, finding free space in the low slot and quickly slamming home a rebound off Marcus Foligno's shot from the slot.
Hartman has points in four of his last five games and 39 points in 64 outings this season, the second-best total of his eight-year NHL career.
Winger Matt Boldy clinched his second straight 30-assist season with the secondary helper.
Merrill doubled the Minnesota lead 81 seconds later with a shot from left wing that snuck through traffic and then soared over Gibson's glove hand.
Rookie center Marat Khusnutdinov collected his first NHL point with an assist on the goal.
Kaprizov pushed the visitors' lead to three midway through the second with a power-play goal, shoving home another rebound chance amidst a mad netfront scramble in Anaheim's crease.
The goal was the 150th of Kaprizov's four-year NHL career. The 26-year-old has points in eight straight games and is now tied for 13th among league scoring leaders this season.
Lucchini capped the scoring in the third, finishing a backdoor pass by Adam Beckman on a 2-on-1 rush.
The Ducks continue a three-game homestand Thursday against Chicago.
