Avs ground Ducks

In Anaheim, the Colorado Avalanche’s Jonas Johansson made 24 saves in a 4-1 win over the Ducks on Sunday.

“I’ve been fighting for quite a few years to get to this point,” Johansson said. “It’s a good feeling, but we’ve got more work to do.”

Jamie Drysdale scored the Ducks’ lone goal.

“He continues to get better, and he has earned every minute of [playing time],” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “He has played well right from the start, and he’s a quick learner.”

Andre Burakovsky put the Avs up 1-0 in the first period.

“We gave them a few too many good scoring chances from the slot,” the Ducks’ Kevin Shattenkirk said. “I thought after that, the second period was a bit funky trying to find our game with a lot of penalties.”

Gabriel Landeskog extended the lead to 2-0 before Drysdale  scored in the third period to halve the lead.

Ryan Graves and Nathan MacKinnon scored in the third period to make it 4-1.

“We’re trying to stack up points going toward the end of the year,” Graves said. “Just keep putting room between us and other teams leading into the playoffs to give ourselves the best chance.”

John Gibson made 33 saves in the loss.

“We played hard, it’s not for lack of trying,” Shattenkirk said. “[The Avalanche] are a team that’s going to generate scoring chances on a nightly basis with the skill and talent that they have, but I thought we had some pretty good chances of our own.”