ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Rickard Rakell scored twice, Antoine Vermette scored in his first game against his former team and the Anaheim Ducks used three first-period goals to roll past the Arizona Coyotes, 5-1, at Honda Center on Friday night.
Nine days of up-and-down play have defined the inconsistent Ducks (5-5-2) and this latest one-sided performance before an announced crowd of 16,405 was on the right side after they were blown out Wednesday by Pittsburgh.
Rakell, Kevin Bieksa and Jakob Silfverberg all scored during a dominating 21-shot first period, which would chase Arizona goalie Louis Domingue. Coyotes coach Dave Tippett opted to go with backup Justin Peters for the final 40 minutes.
Vermette gave the Ducks a 4-0 lead in the second with a slap shot that beat Peters for his second goal. The 34-year-old signed a two-year deal with Anaheim late in the summer after being cut loose by Arizona, which bought him out to open up a spot for a younger prospect.
In parts of five seasons with Arizona, Vermette had 70 goals and 79 assists. He's off to a solid start with the Ducks, with a goal and an assist Friday for seven points in his first 12 games.
After allowing five goals to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, John Gibson was called on again and stopped 21 shots. Gibson, the Ducks' undisputed No. 1 goalie, has started the last five games and played in all but one this season.
Angered by consecutive bad losses at home, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle held a meeting Thursday and challenged his group to be more focused and play as a complete unit. It looked that way in this outing against the equally up-and-down Coyotes.
With the Ducks again playing without injured forwards Ryan Getzlaf and Nick Ritchie, Rakell and others picked up the offensive load. Corey Perry played playmaker in setting up the first two goals, with Bieksa ripping in a power-play goal and Rakell striking off a 2-on-1 with the goal-scoring winger.
