Ducks slip past Columbus, 2-1

In Columbus, the Anaheim Ducks clipped the Blue Jackets, 2-1, on Thursday, after penalties.

John Gibson made 33 saves in the Ducks win.

Rickard Rakell was credited with the deciding goal in the skills portion of the evening’s affair.

“The one good thing that’s happened, it’s been rare where we’ve had more than two guys having an off night,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “Tonight, we had seven or eight. When that’s happening, that puts a lot of pressure on our goaltender. But thankfully we have a world-class one in [Gibson]. That was just an unbelievable performance.

“Columbus did a [heck] of a job. They threw everything to the top of the paint. They just kept coming and coming and coming, but he was outstanding.”

Anaheim’s Isac Lundestrom scored midway through the first period to tie the game, 1-1, off a breakaway.

The Ducks improved to 15-8-3.

“We’re playing for each other,” Gibson said. “We’re playing together. We’re having fun. I think that’s what it’s all about. You want to have fun, you want to win, you want to have success. Maybe it wasn’t our best night as a team, but anytime you come away with two points on the road is huge.”

The Blue Jackets dropped to 13-11-1.

“We ran into pretty good goalie and we had some good looks, but you know they’re going to be tight games,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “We’ve got to try and find a way to squeak out that other point, but the effort was good. I thought we cleaned up some areas and it was better.”

The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the opening period off a goal from Alexandre Texier.

“I couldn’t shoot, but I didn’t know [that it was broken],” Texier said. “That’s how it is. You have to know that before.”