ANAHEIM — Falling behind for the fourth straight game to begin the season, the Ducks could not rally for a third consecutive victory, losing to the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-1, on Thursday night at the Honda Center.
A pair of goals by Seth Jarvis along with scores from defenseman Alexander Nikishin and forward Sebastian Aho swamped the Ducks, whose lone tally, courtesy of Leo Carlsson, briefly made a game of it in the latter half of the second period.
The NHL’s only remaining unbeaten team, Carolina (4-0-0, 8 points) dictated terms by forcing turnovers in the Ducks’ end of the ice to trouble head coach Joel Quenneville’s group for extended stretches.
The Hurricanes’ early efforts paid off when one of a Ducks giveaway allowed Jarvis to tuck away a rebound from a tight angle at 14:54 for his 100th career NHL goal.
The Ducks (2-2-0, 4 points) were fortunate to trail by one heading into the first intermission.
Defenseman Jacob Trouba stopped what seemed like a sure goal with his stick, helping goaltender Jakob Dostal by knocking away a shot headed toward an exposed side of the net. His teammate, Drew Helleson, also broke up an odd-man rush with a perfectly-timed intervention.
Intending to ramp up pressure in the offensive zone in the middle period, the Ducks instead went without a shot on goal for more than 11 minutes.
By then Carolina had extended its advantage to two thanks again to Jarvis, who capitalized on the visitors’ third power play – hooking by Jackson LaCombe – with a one-time wrist shot from the right circle for his sixth goal of the season.
Coming in hoping to outshoot an opponent that typically owns that advantage, the Ducks’ drought ended when Carlsson halved the deficit at 11:32.
The 20-year-old Swedish forward received the puck at center ice and skated untouched into the slot, where he beat Danish goaltender Frederick Andersen on stick side for his second goal of the season.
Carlsson’s effort sent the Ducks and their fans into a frenzy. They put nine more attempts in the period on Andersen, a former Ducks goaltender who appeared in 125 games from 2013-2016.
Mason McTavish nearly tied the score, but his attempt at 17:54 clanged off the crossbar. Carolina absorbed the Ducks pressure, and a couple of missed chances by Carlsson kept it 2-1 heading into the third period.
A scuffle at the end of the second offered the Ducks another chance at a power play to begin the last 20 minutes of regulation. Carolina killed it and nearly caught the Ducks on a breakaway the moment they returned to full strength.
Dostal made the save, but the Hurricanes got to him less than 30 seconds later thanks to Nikishin’s first career NHL goal to regain a two-goal edge at 2:38 of the third.
Aho then collected his first of the year at 15:48, giving Jarvis an assist as well.
A Carlsson attempt off the post late in the third was the Ducks’ best chance, however Andersen’s 23 saves against the team that drafted him 87th overall in 2012 helped salt away the contest.
Amid a stretch of 10 consecutive games against Eastern Conference opponents, the Ducks are on the road for the next five before returning to Orange County in two weeks to face Detroit.
More to come on this story.