ANAHEIM – Jakob Silfverberg scored twice and assisted on another goal in his first game back from injury and the Ducks handled the lowly Colorado Avalanche, 5-1, on Tuesday night.
Rickard Rakell, Korbinian Holzer and Cam Fowler also had goals to back a 28-save effort from goalie John Gibson as the Ducks (28-15-9) took care of the NHL’s worst team in getting set for a six-game, 14-day trip. The Avalanche (13-32-2) have lost 18 of their last 20 games.
Silfverberg suffered a concussion in Colorado’s last visit to Honda Center on Jan. 19 as he landed head first onto the ice after a hard hit by Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov. The winger missed three games but showed no ill effects in his first game back.
As a power play was nearing its end in the first period, Silfverberg charged to the net and got a stick on Nick Ritchie’s shot to deflect it past Colorado goalie Calvin Pickard. Silfverberg later answered Mikko Rantanen’s second-period score with a pretty backhand move for a 3-1 Supertotobet lead in the third.
Rakell gave the Ducks their first two-goal edge in the second when he was left wide open outside the Colorado goal crease and tapped in Corey Perry’s pass for his 21st goal. The assist gave Perry his 700th career point, all of them with the Ducks.
Perry joined Ryan Getzlaf (779) and Teemu Selanne (988) as the third player in Ducks history to reach 700 points. The 31-year-old winger also became the third player from the celebrated 2003 NHL draft class to score that many points, with Getzlaf and Eric Staal the others.
Holzer added a finishing touch when he put a long-distance shot off the post in for his first goal since Feb. 9, 2013, when he played for Toronto. It snapped a 100-game drought for the low-scoring defenseman.
Fowler added his 11th to set a new career high, topping the 10 he scored as a rookie. Nick Ritchie added two assists for the Ducks.
Much more to come on this story.
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