Gibson makes 35 saves, Ducks shut out Stars

ANAHEIM -- John Gibson made 35 saves for the Anaheim Ducks in a 2-0 win against the Dallas Stars at Honda Center on Wednesday.

It was Gibson's first shutout since Nov. 2, 2021, and his 24th in the NHL. He also tied Guy Hebert for the second-most wins in Ducks history (173), behind Jean-Sebastien Giguere (206).
"I thought everybody played well. It was a good team game," Gibson said. "When there were rebounds, they cleared them away.
"They had a good push in the third period, but we found a way just to keep them to the outside. A lot of guys at the end there blocking shots, so it was a good team effort."

Mason McTavish, who was the top-line center for the first time in the NHL, and had a goal and an assist, and Adam Henrique also scored for the Ducks (11-24-4), who were 1-4-1 in their previous six games.
Scott Wedgewood made 25 saves in his first start since Dec. 17 for the Stars (23-11-6), who were coming off a 3-2 loss at the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
"When you've got a goalie that's hot like that, you've got to get in his eyes, you've got to make it tough on him, you've got to take pucks to the crease," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "We should have done a better job of that."

Henrique gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 3:11 of the first period. McTavish brought the puck into Dallas' zone and sent a backhand a pass to Henrique, whose wrist shot from near the wall redirected in off the stick of Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa.
"We kept it simple, got our feet moving early," McTavish said. "Got kind of lucky with just putting pucks on net. That was kind of the game plan. Anything can happen."
Gibson turned away a good scoring chance from Roope Hintz at 5:37, and the McTavish extended the lead to 2-0 at 11:18 with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a saucer pass from Trevor Zegras on a power play.
"He's got great vision, a really good passer," McTavish said of Zegras. "I just try and find lanes, just try and elevate it over the goalie's pads, increase the odds."

It was the first time this season that Anaheim has led by more than a goal entering the second period.
"You get in a hole like that, and when the other goalie at the other end is hot like he was tonight, that's a bad formular for us," DeBoer said. "That came back to bite us."
The Ducks, who entered the game ranked 30th in the NHL on the penalty kill (70.5 percent), went 4-for-4 against the Stars' power play, including killing one off over the final 1:55 of regulation to preserve the shutout.
"Definitely goaltending has been a big key in this little stretch that we've been having here," Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg said. "We've kind of been doing the right stuff all throughout the year, but it just hasn't really gone our way. ... We're pushing at the right time, we're working as a four-man unit out there, but obviously we've been having some unfortunate bounces."
The Stars will return home for three days before hosting the Florida Panthers on Sunday.
"We have a lot of days off coming up here," Dallas forward Tyler Seguin said. "Get some good practice days in and just reset and refocus and definitely move on from this."