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 John Gibson made 27 saves and Brandon Pirri scored the game winner
as the Ducks continued their pursuit of the L.A. Kings and first
place in the NHL's Pacific Division with a 2-1 win over the Edmonton
Oilers on Monday.
"We've been getting good goaltending for a long time now, it's been
a huge part of our success," said Ducks forward Shawn Horcoff of the
tandem of Gibson and Frederik Andersen. "Both of them are playing
great and you need that, especially on the road. We kind of held on
tonight. We had our chances on the power play, but I thought the
penalty kill did a good job tonight."
"I felt good," Gibson said. "I thought I was seeing the puck pretty
good and when there were rebounds, my guys helped me out and cleared
them out of the way."
Corey Perry also recorded a goal for the Ducks (42-23-10), who won
their second game in a row to move one point back of the Kings, who
were facing San Jose later in the night.
 "We're slowly getting to where we want to be and tonight is another
step in that direction," Perry said.
Nail Yakupov scored in response for the Oilers (30-42-7), who have
lost two straight.
"Lately we've been playing some really tough teams and giving them a
run for their money," said Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot, who made 23
saves in the loss. "It was a hard-fought game tonight. We never
quit, we never gave up. We came into the dressing room after the
second period and said we can make a push if we get one quick.
"After that we just couldn't find the equalizer but it was a
hard-fought game against a really good team."
The Ducks were able to score on their first shot of the game, as
Perry was able to blow a shot past Talbot just four minutes into the
first period.
Anaheim took a two-goal lead 13 minutes into the second period as
Pirri was able to outmuscle Edmonton defenseman Adam Clendening and
beat Talbot on a spin-around shot for his 13th goal of the season.
Edmonton came close to getting a goal back late in the third period,
but a Taylor Hall shot deflected off of Gibson and then the post.
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The Oilers made it 2-1 with 8:20 remaining in the third as Hall won
a battle off of a draw and sent it to Yakupov, who beat Gibson for
his seventh goal of the season.
"I thought we had enough chances and looks around the net to win the
game," said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan. "I didn't think we gave
up a lot. There was a lot of things I was pleased with as a coach
but it does come down to the outcome and we didn't get what we
wanted."
NOTES: The Ducks return home on Wednesday to start a four-game
homestand against the Calgary Flames. Edmonton is off until
Saturday, when they also play host to Calgary... This is the final
homestand for the Oilers at Rexall Place, with two games remaining
after the Ducks on Monday. The Oilers will move into a new downtown
arena for the start of next season... Out with injuries for the
Ducks were D Kevin Bieksa (upper body), D Simon Despres
(undisclosed) and F David Perron (shoulder). The Ducks saw the
return of D Sami Vatanen (upper body) and F Ryan Kesler (personal)
for the game. ... Out for the Oilers were D Oscar Klefbom (foot), D
Andrew Ference (hip), D Brandon Davidson (knee), F Benoit Pouliot
(shoulder), D Eric Gryba (knee), D Adam Pardy (undisclosed) and F
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (concussion). ... Patrick Maroon, who was
acquired from the Ducks by the Oilers at the trade deadline came
into the game with five points in his last two games and had 11
points in 12 games with Edmonton coming into the contest. Maroon had
13 points in 56 games with the Ducks earlier this season
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