The Anaheim Ducks ended a five-game road trip with a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks Thursday; they went 5-1-1 on the trip and now are just two points back of the Los Angeles Kings.
Sami Vatanen, Ryan Getzlaf, Rickard Rakell, Josh Manson, and Kevin Bieksa all scored for the Ducks.
“We had a great trip going into it, but if you lose the last one, it still leaves a bitter taste in your mouth,” Getzlaf said. “These are character things. When you can focus and make sure you maintain it the whole trip, it’s big.” 
The Ducks offense has finally solidified after the woeful start to the season; they have scored 54 times in the last 13 games and not surprisingly have gone 11-1-1 in those games.
“Hockey is a fun game for that, you never know what is going to happen,” Vatanen said. “But we trusted our system and we knew it was just time until it starts to bounce our way.”
The offense, keyed with the Ducks defense that has been strong all season, is now pushing the club and helping them chase down the Kings who lost in overtime Thursday.
Jannik Hansen and Sven Baertschi scored for the Canucks.
“I thought the effort was there tonight. We need better execution,” Daniel Sedin said. “All we can do is stick up for each other and play for each other. That’s key right now. I think we did that better today, way better than the last two games. That’s the only way you get out of this. Everyone comes to the rink with a positive attitude, play hard and things will be better. But obviously it’s tough right now.”
John Gibson made 19 saves for Anaheim in the win.
“[Gibson] made a couple of big saves he had to in the first two periods,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “In the third period, I thought we got a little loose once we had the 4-0 lead. But they regained their composure and played well the last five minutes.”
The Ducks’ Andrew Cogliano played his 679th consecutive game; that tied him with Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin for sixth-longest stretch in NHL history.
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