SALT LAKE CITY — For the second night in a row, the Ducks battled into the third period only to come up short.
Dylan Guenther broke a tie on a power play at 7:03 of the third and the Utah Hockey Club beat the Ducks, 3-2, on Wednesday night. Guenther beat goaltender Ville Husso with a one-timer from the left side off a feed from defenseman Mikhail Sergachev for his career-best 24 goal this season.
Jack McBain and Alexander Kerfoot also scored to help Utah move within two points of the second wild card playoff spot in the Western Conference. Karel Vejmelka made 19 saves.
Alex Killorn and Mason McTavish scored for the Ducks, and Husso – who was acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 24 – stopped 36 shots in his Ducks debut. The Ducks are eight points out of a playoff spot after going 1-4-0 in their past five games.
Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev saved a goal early in the second period, but later committed back-to-back minor penalties. The Ducks capitalized on the second when McTavish scored on a one-timer from the right circle to tie it 2-2 at 3:22 of the third period.
Utah then went on a power play and the top unit kept the puck in the Ducks’ zone for an extended stretch before Guenther scored what proved to be the game-winner.
McBain scored on a deflection to give Utah a 1-0 lead at 11:03 of the first period.
Sergachev made the goal-saving play when he kicked aside a close-in try by Ryan Strome after he had beaten Vejmelka on a drive to the net at 5:48 of the second period.
Utah pinned the Ducks in their own zone before Guenther centered a pass from off the wall to Kerfoot cutting to the net, and he slipped the puck past Husso from close range to extend the lead to 2-0 at 14:31 of the second.
Sergachev earned his 300th NHL point with an assist on the play.
The Ducks began their comeback 62 seconds later. Killorn hopped off the bench and received a pass from Leo Carlsson before squeezing a wrist shot between Vejmelka’s blocker and left hip with a wrist shot from the left circle to make it 2-1 at 15:53.
The Ducks were coming off a 7-4 home loss to the league-leading Washington Capitals on Tuesday night – a game that tied twice in the third period before the Capitals scored three goals in the final 6:35 to secure a victory.
Utah, which outshot the Ducks 39-21, had lost two straight games in extra time, falling 4-3 in overtime at Chicago on Friday night and 4-3 in a shootout at home against Toronto on Monday night.
UP NEXT
The Ducks host Nashville on Friday at 7 p.m. PT.
More to come on this story.
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