ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Jakob Silfverberg isn’t terribly well-known outside Anaheim, where Ducks fans love his scintillating two-way game.
Silfverberg is playing far too well to stay a secret this year.
John Gibson made 34 saves in his third shutout of the season, and Silfverberg had a goal and an assist in the Ducks’ 2-0 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.
Silfverberg scored a power-play goal in the second period, and the surging Swedish forward set up Andrew Cogliano’s top-shelf shot with 5:18 to play. Their line with center Ryan Kesler combined for 17 shots and largely dominated play for the Ducks, who wrapped up their five-game homestand with four wins.
“He’s on another level right now,” Cogliano said of Silfverberg. “I’ve always thought he was one of the most underrated in the league. When you play with him, you appreciate him more about what he does with his stick battles and how hard he is on pucks. When he’s playing well, he’s usually the best player on the ice.”
The Ducks stayed even with San Jose atop the Pacific Division with their fifth win in seven games overall.
Anaheim finally snapped its 0-for-16 drought on the power play when Silfverberg pounced on a fat rebound of Corey Perry’s shot in the slot for his 12th goal.
Late in the third period, Silfverberg surged ahead on a rush and threaded a cross-ice pass for an exceptional top-shelf shot by Cogliano, who ended his eight-game goal drought.
“Our line has been doing pretty good as of lately,” Silfverberg said. “I’ve always said we do the job defensively, but we have the aspects to produce and help the team score goals. We’ve been getting bounces lately. We’re shooting pucks and going hard to the net. We’re getting rewarded for that.”
Both teams played without their injured captains. Dallas’ Jamie Benn missed his fourth straight game with a foot injury, and Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf also missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury.
Dallas also lost defenseman Jamie Oleksiak to an upper-body injury shortly before Patrick Eaves went to the dressing room with an undisclosed problem in the third period. Stars coach Lindy Ruff said Oleksiak could be out “for a little bit of time,” while Eaves’ injury doesn’t appear serious.
“We’ve been (dealing with injuries) all year, since the start of the year,” Ruff said. “I thought the guys worked hard. It’s a tough back-to-back. Last night was a tough game (in Los Angeles). I thought we were right there to at least tie the game.”
Antti Niemi stopped 36 shots for the Stars, who wrapped up their three-game road trip with their fourth loss in five games overall.
“They weren’t going to give us much off the rush,” Dallas’ Jason Spezza said. “To get that power play goal, it forced us to open the game up a little bit. I think that’s when they scored the last one.”
Gibson played in his ninth consecutive game for the Ducks and earned his ninth career shutout - his second in four starts. After sharing the Jennings Trophy with Frederik Andersen last year, Gibson has been increasingly solid following a slow start to his first season as Anaheim’s unquestioned No. 1 netminder.
NOTES: Perry’s goal drought reached 13 games since he last scored, Dec. 13 against the Stars. The 2011 NHL MVP has only seven goals in 43 games this season after scoring 110 goals in the previous three seasons. … Niemi had a solid start after mopping up for struggling Kari Lehtonen in the final minutes of Monday’s victory at Los Angeles. Lehtonen, who gave up four goals to the Kings, has yielded 11 goals on the last 68 shots he has faced. … After the game, Anaheim acquired goalie Jhonas Enroth from Toronto for a seventh-round pick in 2018. Enroth, the Kings’ backup goalie last season, will play for the Ducks’ AHL affiliate in San Diego. … Cogliano led the Ducks with eight shots on goal.
UP NEXT
Stars: Host Detroit on Thursday night.
Ducks: At Colorado on Thursday night.
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