04/04/26 11:48:00
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04/04 23:46 CDT Ryan Strome scores against former team, Ducks' late-season skid
extends to 5 with 5-3 loss to Flames
Ryan Strome scores against former team, Ducks' late-season skid extends to 5
with 5-3 loss to Flames
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) --- Ryan Strome scored his 500th career point with a goal
against his former team, Morgan Frost had two goals and the Calgary Flames sent
the Anaheim Ducks to their fifth consecutive loss with a 5-3 victory Saturday
night.
Joel Farabee and Matvei Gridin had a goal and an assist apiece for the Flames,
who extended the Ducks' late-season spiral by earning their first win over
Anaheim in four meetings this season. Devin Cooley made 36 saves.
Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish scored in the third period, but the Ducks'
comeback from a 4-1 deficit fell short when Frost put his second goal into an
empty net with 1:11 to play.
Beckett Sennecke also scored and Ville Husso stopped 15 shots during yet
another rough defensive performance by the Ducks.
Anaheim is attempting to end the franchise's seven-year playoff drought under
first-year coach Joel Quenneville, but this skid has endangered the Ducks'
entire playoff candidacy even after they spent the past four weeks leading the
mediocre Pacific Division.
The Ducks remained even with first-place Edmonton with 87 points because of the
Oilers' loss to Vegas, which is now just one point behind the division leaders
with five games to play.
Strome sneaked behind Anaheim's leaky defense and scored on a breakaway early
in the second period, getting his fifth goal in 15 games since the Ducks traded
him to Calgary last month. The veteran forward spent the previous 3 1/2 seasons
with the Ducks, but struggled to produce during inconsistent playing time from
Quenneville before his departure at the deadline.
Sennecke opened the scoring when he drove the net and muscled home his 23rd
goal, most among NHL rookies this season, but Calgary replied with four
consecutive goals that prompted the Honda Center crowd to boo its team into the
second intermission.
Carlsson got his 27th goal in the third, and McTavish fired home his second
goal since January during a power play midway through the period. But Calgary
repelled another Ducks power play and wrapped it up with Frost's empty-netter.
Injuries left Anaheim playing without top scorer Cutter Gauthier and defensemen
Radko Gudas and Pavel Mintyukov.
Defenseman Tyson Hinds made his NHL debut for the Ducks, whose defensive
struggles are the primary source of their late-season woes.
Up next
Flames: At Dallas on Tuesday night.
Ducks: Host Nashville on Tuesday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
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