Stars shut out on the road by Ducks

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- John Gibson made 34 saves in his third shutout of the season, and Jakob Silfverberg had a goal and an assist in the Anaheim Ducks' 2-0 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.

Silfverberg scored a power-play goal in the second period, and the surging Swedish forward set up Andrew Cogliano's top-shelf shot with 5:18 to play. Their line with center Ryan Kesler combined for 17 shots and largely dominated play for the Ducks, who stayed even with San Jose atop the Pacific Division with their fifth win in seven games.

Antti Niemi stopped 36 shots for the Stars, who wrapped up their three-game road trip with their fourth loss in five games overall.

Both teams played without their injured captains. Dallas' Jamie Benn missed his fourth straight game with a foot injury, and Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf also missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury.

Dallas lost defenseman Jamie Oleksiak to an upper-body injury shortly before Patrick Eaves went to the dressing room with an undisclosed problem in the third period.

Gibson played in his ninth consecutive game for the Ducks and earned his ninth career shutout -- his second in four starts. After sharing the Jennings Trophy with Frederik Andersen last year, Gibson has been increasingly solid following a slow start to his first season as Anaheim's unquestioned No. 1 netminder.

After a scoreless first period, the teams exchanged fruitless power plays in the second before Anaheim finally snapped its 0-for-16 drought with the man advantage, its longest of the season. Silfverberg pounced on a fat rebound of Corey Perry's shot in the slot for the 12th goal in his outstanding year.

Late in the third period, Silfverberg surged ahead on a rush and threaded a cross-ice pass to Cogliano for an exceptional top-shelf shot. Cogliano ended an eight-game goal drought.

Corey Perry's goal drought reached 13 games since he last scored, Dec. 13 against the Stars. The 2011 NHL MVP has only seven goals in 43 games this season after scoring 110 goals in the previous three seasons.

NOTES: Niemi got the start after mopping up for struggling Kari Lehtonen in the final minutes of Monday's victory. Lehtonen, who gave up four goals to the Kings, has yielded 11 goals on the last 68 shots he has faced. ... The Ducks wore their orange alternate jerseys. ... Cogliano led the Ducks with eight shots on goal.

UP NEXT

Stars: Host Detroit on Thursday night.

Ducks: At Colorado on Thursday night.