John Gibson, Trevor Zegras lead Ducks past Predators

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Ducks got John Gibson back in goal and found their way back into the win column.

Gibson returned after missing seven games with an injury and made 33 saves, and Trevor Zegras had a goal and an assist on his 24th birthday to lead the Ducks to a 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Jackson LaCombe, Troy Terry and Alex Killorn also scored, and Mason McTavish had two assists as the Ducks (30-31-8, 68 points) won for just the second time in six games – both coming against the Predators.

It was just Gibson’s fourth appearance since a 26-save performance in a 2-1 victory over Dallas on Feb. 4 and his first since suffering a lower-body injury in a March 5 road loss to Vancouver.

“Amazing,” Zegras told NHL.com when asked about Gibson’s performance. “Mr. Orange County. He’s got that nickname for a reason. I don’t know how much time he missed, but it looked like none at all tonight. We’re always very happy to have him between the pipes.”

The Ducks are nine points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference with a game in hand.

Steven Stamkos scored and Justus Annunen made 30 saves for the Predators (25-35-8, 58 points), who have managed only three goals while going 0-3-1 in their past four games.

The Ducks were getting outshot 4-0 when Nashville went on its first power play at 6:18 of the first period. Stamkos scored 49 seconds into the man-advantage on a one-timer from the top of the left circle, off a feed from Filip Forsberg. It was the 578th goal of Stamkos’ career, passing Mark Recchi for 22nd place in NHL history.

The Ducks evened the shot totals at 10-10 entering the second period and then tied the score at 7:29. McTavish took a sharp-angle shot off a rush, and the rebound came out to the front of the crease, where LaCombe was there to shoot it into the net.

“It was kind of an even hockey game in the first period, and then I think we capitalized on our chances in the second,” McTavish told NHL.com. “Just kind of hung on to the lead in the third. It was a big win for us.”

At 13:19 of the second period, Terry received a pass from Zegras above the left circle, cut into the middle and scored with a wrist shot from above the hash marks for a 2-1 lead.

“I think when we’re on our game and we’re getting pucks back on the forecheck, it leads to offensive zone time, which as I’ve shared with you guys has been a process with this group,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin told NHL.com. “They’re getting more comfortable with it. And then we built off of that throughout the game.”

The Ducks kept the pressure on, and Zegras knocked in a rebound in front of the crease to stretch the lead to 3-1 at 15:36.

“I thought we got it in behind them and kind of just wore them down a bit,” Zegras told NHL.com. “(Ducks forward Brett Leason and McTavish), they’re big bodies and they’re great on the forecheck. I just tried to help out as much as I can.”

Killorn scored into an empty net with 36 seconds left to make it 4-1.

After scoring in each of the previous two games, Ducks rookie forward Nikita Nesterenko sat out with an illness and defenseman Oliver Kylington made his Ducks debut in a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

The Ducks swept Nashville for the first time since 2015.

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The Ducks host Carolina on Sunday at 5 p.m.