Anaheim's Dostal shines in Ducks' 4-1 win over Mammoth

SALT LAKE CITY — Final scores don't always tell the story of a game.

Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Mammoth looked poised for a repeat performance of Thursday night's win, but Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal held Utah's offense in check to secure a 4-1 lead.

The final score may look like the game was out of hand for the Mammoth, but it was quite the opposite. Anaheim led by one score until an empty-net goal from Cutter Gauthier extended the lead.

Another empty-net goal from the Ducks finally put the game out of reach and gave Utah its fourth-consecutive home loss.

Utah ramped up the pressure for much of the first period and took an early lead on a goal from Dylan Guenther. The one-timer from Guenther was his 34th of the season, and his quick shot was the only one to beat Dostal after he received a dart of a pass from Sean Durzi.

From that point on, Anaheim clamped down on the Mammoth's offense and prevent them from finding the back of the net again. Utah managed more shots on goal than the Ducks, but they couldn't find a way to get anything past Dostal and the rest of Anaheim's defense.

"I think we were resilient," Mammoth head coach Andre Tourigny said. "We played stingy defensively. We got in the box a little bit too much, and we did not find a way to score enough. I think we had great opportunity, (but) for whatever reason, didn't go in."

The Ducks recorded 29 blocked shots and impacted the rhythm of the game for the Mammoth all night. Andwhether it was Dostal making a save or an Anaheim defenseman blocking a shot, Utah failed to capitalize on any of its chances to score.

"I think our push was great," Mikhail Sergachev said. "We just didn't finish. We had a lot of chances, a couple breakaways; we didn't finish. That was the difference in the game."

Despite being outplayed and outshot in the opening period, the Ducks managed to tie up the game after one period with Ryan Poehling's shorthanded goal.

Following a penalty from Anaheim defenseman Ian Moore, Poehling wasted no time on the penalty kill and took the puck all the way down on a breakaway to beat Vitek Vanecek to even things up.

As momentum began to shift toward the Ducks' favor, Jack McBain dropped his gloves and fought Jeffrey Viel, which resulted in five minute minor penalties for both skaters.

The Mammoth failed to capture the energy, and sloppy play highlighted the second period. Multiple penalties led to power plays for Anaheim, which eventually led to the Ducks taking the lead.

A hectic play around Utah's crease gave Anaheim the opportunity it needed to score its second goal. Lawson Crouse saved a potential goal with his stick after Vanecek fell over, but the team could not clear it in time for Vanecek to get up and Alex Killorn scored on the unprotected net.

The game could have been more out of reach before the final minutes of regulation, but the Mammoth's penalty kill was effective. Utah racked up five penalty kills, though failed to score on any of their three man advantages in Friday's game.

"We started the game good," Tourigny said. "We had good looks, we were aggressive, we were putting pucks on the net — moving the puck well — but if you look all in all today, the power play didn't win enough face offs, didn't recover enough loose pucks — a few turnovers. Those things make the difference."

One of the missed opportunities on the power play came late in the third period before Tourigny pulled Vanecek to give his team an extra skater. Some disjointed play at the end led to two empty net goals for the Ducks to seal the game.

"I think we're playing some good hockey lately, and tonight's loss is not an indication of us not playing good so we just keep going with it," Sergachev said. "It's gonna be fine the way we're playing. We're gonna win more games than we lose."

The Mammoth will have a day off before taking on the Los Angeles Kings in the second game of a four-game home stand. Utah will also look to snap its losing streak at home, but Guenther said he isn't concerned about the team's recent stretch of performances at home.

When asked if there was a reason for the sudden poor play at home, Guenther responded saying, "I don't think so."

"We got a lot of games at home here, so hopefully change that, but I don't think so. I think we had a little bit of a slump there, and it just ended up that we were playing at home."

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