Vatrano scores twice on big-money day, Gibson picks up 200th win as Ducks ground Lightning

ANAHEIM, Calif. – A big money day turned into a big money night for Frank Vatrano, as the Anaheim Ducks pocketed another win against a playoff team on Sunday.

Following the announcement of a three-year, $18-million extension, Vatrano scored two goals and earned an assist, as the Ducks held off a push from the Tampa Bay Lightning to secure their fourth win in five games, 4-1, at Honda Center.

“I liked it alot. We got off to a great start,” Vatrano said. “We didn’t have the most energy, obviously. We had a tough trip last trip, getting in late (on Saturday morning), but they were tired too. So we need to get off to a good start. 

“I think the second period got away from us, but we had a great third period to close them out. Great team effort tonight.”

Vatrano’s goals were his first in nine games, but the 30-year-old racked up his fifth point in four games. Troy Terry netted his fourth goal in four games and tallied his eighth point in six games. Ryan Strome is on a five-game point streak with seven points in that stretch.

“Once someone’s in on all the fun, I think you get pulled along the rope,” Vatrano said of the continued success of all three members of his line. “For our line, we’re great friends off the ice, spent a lot of time together and we can criticize each other jokingly and also when we need to say something serious, we listen to each other. No one on our line is too stubborn. We want to win.”

John Gibson made 36 saves to pick up his 200th career victory.

“He means everything to us,” Vatrano said of Gibon. “He’s the longest-tenured guy here now. He’s our backbone. He’s a competitor. He wants to win. Guys love him, and I couldn’t be more happy for him.”

Anaheim picked up its fourth win in five games, all over playoff teams from a year ago, including some of the league’s best teams. The Ducks are also 16-0-1 when scoring three or more goals this season.

“We’re just trying to string them together,” Gibson said. “You’ve got to be able (to do that), you can’t keep going back and forth. You’ve got to be able to string wins together. There’s confidence in the groove, the chemistry with the line and D-pairs. We’re all connected and playing well. 

“We’re all on the same page, and I think it’s showing on the ice and we’re getting the results.”

The Ducks (17-18-4, 38 points) are now six points out of a wild card spot, with their next two games against two of the three teams between them and the playoff barrier. Anaheim hosts Calgary (18-14-7, 43 points) on Tuesday and visits Cam Fowler and the St. Louis Blues (19-18-4, 42 points) on Thursday.

“I think winning creates a lot of confidence and believability,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “I think they have an expectation to win. I’m not sure if that was the case a year ago, but you can feel it, you know it. I think the standard’s been set a little bit higher.”

Anaheim grabbed the lead with another wire from Terry early in the first period.

Strome dropped the puck to Terry when entering the zone, and the Ducks’ leading scorer stepped up to rip his 14th goal of the season over the glove of Johansson and off the back bar of the net, 1-0.

With just under three minutes left in the first, the new money man got a piece of the Ducks’ second goal.

Vatrano deflected a point shot from Jacob Trouba to extend the Anaheim lead, 2-0.

Tampa Bay carried the play in the first period, but the Ducks blocked 10 shots to negate the Lightning attack. Tampa Bay kept up that momentum into the second period and got on the board with a power play.

Nikitia Kucherov dragged Anaheim’s penalty kill diamond into a square and dished to to Guentzel. Gibson lost the puck in the traffic, and Guentzel nailed the one-timer into a half-open net, 2-1.

“I thought we played a good first period, and then they put it on us,” Cronin said, “but we stuck together and we were able to keep our structure. Obviously, Gibby, it’s a great 200th win for him, and he earned it. He had to deal with a lot of rubber.”

The Lightning outshot Anaheim, 18-8, in the period while earning 67.4% of the five-on-five shot attempts, 65% of the five-on-five scoring chances and 80% of the five-on-five high-danger chances.

Tampa Bay kept up its push into the third period, but Gibson and the Ducks held strong.

“That’s another reason I’m proud of this group,” Terry said. “Our ability to realize those swings are going to happen, and instead of letting it make you crumble and just start defending, we broke out of it at the end of the second. They were making a push in the third, but I thought we did a good job.”

Jackson LaCombe picked up the pressure-relieving insurance marker with 3:34 to play. LaCombe finished off a one-timer on the rush from Alex Killorn for the two-goal lead, 3-1, and his fifth point in six games. The 23-year-old defenseman has scored in back-to-back games.

Vatrano put home the empty-netter after he and Strome tapped the puck back and forth for the other to score to seal the win, 4-1.

Game Notes

• Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov sat out his second consecutive game as a healthy scratch. This is the fourth time in the last seven games he’s been sat in the press box.

• Ducks forward Nikita Nesterenko made his season debut for Anaheim after a call-up from AHL San Diego last week. Nesterenko played 9:38 and registered one block and two hits. Ross Johnston sat in his place.