Ducks climb to third in Pacific with OT win against Avalanche

ANAHEIM -- The Anaheim Ducks moved up to third place in the Pacific Division when they rallied for a 4-3 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche at Honda Center on Sunday.
Ondrej Kase drove down the left side and put an inside-out move on Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard before beating goalie Jonathan Bernier with a high shot 1:34 into overtime.

Andrew Cogliano had a goal and an assist, Jakob Silfverberg had two assists, and Adam Henrique and Ryan Kesler scored for the Ducks, who trailed 3-1 in the third period.
WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Ducks highlights\]
Anaheim (41-25-13), which is 3-1-1 in its past five games, is one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for third.
"We found a way to tie the hockey game and Kase makes a big play in overtime to get us the extra point," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "These are big points. The next one is going to be bigger."

Tyson Jost scored two goals, Alex Kerfoot had a goal and an assist, and Bernier made 38 saves in his first start since Semyon Varlamov sustained a season-ending lower-body injury in Colorado's 5-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
The Avalanche (42-28-9) moved into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They lead the St. Louis Blues by one point, but the Blues have one game in hand.
"There's no reason why we shouldn't feel confident this time of year," Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "We're in the race for a reason, and now we just have to show up."
Anaheim goaltender John Gibson made 10 saves in the first period but did not come out for the second because of an undisclosed injury. It was the sixth time this season Gibson left a game because of injury. He was replaced by Ryan Miller, who made 19 saves.
"That's a veteran player there," Carlyle said of Miller. "He wasn't rattled by the situation."
Henrique and Kesler scored 1:36 apart in the third period to tie the game.

Henrique took a pass from Corey Perry from behind the net and scored from a sharp angle to make it 3-2 at 7:43. Kesler scored from the slot off the long rebound of a Cogliano shot at 9:19 to tie it 3-3.
"That's the way we're built," Kesler said. "They're more of a skilled team over there. We want to play to our strengths, and we did tonight. You can see they were stuck to the outside all night."
Jost gave Colorado a 2-1 lead with his first goal of the game at 1:04 of the second period on a power play that carried over from the first. He made it 3-1 at 12:10 when he finished a 2-on-1 with Kerfoot for the first multigoal game of his NHL career.
"Jost had a really nice shot on the third one," Landeskog said.

Kerfoot was credited with the goal that gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. It was the fourth straight game the Ducks allowed the first goal.
After Ryan Getzlaf was kicked out of the circle for a face-off violation, Rickard Rakell stepped in and won the draw against Kerfoot, but the puck glanced off Perry's skate in the slot and got past Gibson at 1:16.
Cogliano tied it 1-1 when he scored on a breakaway for his 10th goal at 6:08. Silfverberg intercepted a pass from Landeskog in the Anaheim zone and made a soft pass ahead to Cogliano, who dragged the puck until Bernier sprawled forward before shooting from a sharp angle high into the net for his 10th goal.

Goal of the game

Kase's goal at 1:34 of overtime.

Save of the game

Gibson stopping Blake Comeau at 1:13 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Kesler's goal at 9:19 of the third period.

They said it

"The only time the standings matter is (next) Saturday (when the regular season ends for every NHL team except the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers). It's disappointing we didn't get two (points) because we played OK for a lot of that game." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"The pressure (our team) puts on itself as individuals falls on the team. This group is experienced, playoff experienced, pressure experienced. It's not all doom and gloom. They know how to play in those situations." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle on rallying for the win

Need to know

Jost has three goals in the past two games after he had nine in his first 60 this season. ... Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has gone a season-high seven straight games without a goal. ... Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler left the game at 18:40 of the third period because of an injury. Carlyle did not have an update on Gibson or Fowler but said each player will be evaluated Monday, when more information will be made available. ... Earlier on Sunday, Gibson was named NHL Third Star for March. He was 9-3-1 with a 2.15 goals-against average, a .931 save percentage and three shutouts in 13 games. ... Cogliano is the ninth Anaheim player to reach double figures in goals this season. ... The Dallas Stars were eliminated from playoff contention with the Ducks win.

What's next

Avalanche: At the Los Angeles Kings on Monday (10:30 p.m. ET; SN, SN1, PRIME, ALT, NHL.TV)
Ducks:Host the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; SN1, PRIME, FS-N, NHL.TV)