Steady improvement in their game was lost Wednesday night when the Anaheim Ducks blew a tire in a 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Jonathan Bernier made 39 save for the shutout and is now 6-2-2 in his last 10 games.
“That’s what you pay him for, right?” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “It was good for us. He’s got his confidence back. He’s playing out of the net, he’s doing things right, feels good about himself and gives our team confidence.”
Jonathan Bernier stopped 39 shots In win over Ducks – file photo Brent Clark
PA Parenteau had two goals including the opener in the first period when the Ducks outshot the Leafs, 18-8.
“They were moving the puck pretty good on their power play and they got a lot of scoring chances,” Bernier said. “But I thought the start of our second was really good, especially the first 10 minutes in the second. We knew they were a team that would come out really hard in the first (period).”
Nazem Kadri and Brad Boyes also scored for the Leafs.
“We came out with much more confidence,” Parenteau said. “We knew if we wanted to win we had to start playing a little better at some point and we did just that in the second period. We really took over and I think that’s where we won the game.”
John Gibson got the start but left just 41 seconds into the third period after a collision with Kadri.
“I don’t know too much right now,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said when asked for Gibson’s status. “We’re calling it a lower-body injury, day-to-day at this point.
“He was going to come out anyway. My thought process was we’re down 3-0 at the time, he’s going to come out of the game. There’s no sense playing him even if he’s not hurt.”
After the lack of success in the first period, the Ducks appeared deflated the rest of the way and were unable to break through on the Leafs’ defense.
“Things didn’t go in during the first period, and we kind of got away from our game plan,” Ducks forward Corey Perry said. “We stopped playing the way we normally do, or have done in the last little bit. It’s all about sticking with the process and game plan. It works, but when you get away from it, it doesn’t.”
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