Devils have no answers for the new-look Ducks

John Gibson made 29 saves and Troy Terry scored his first NHL goal and set up another Saturday, sending the new-look Ducks past the New Jersey Devils 3-2 at Prudential Center in Newark. This was the second straight win for Anaheim after a franchise-record 12-game losing streak.

Gibson has been the big difference in the streak that has the Ducks in the playoff hunt again. He blanked Minnesota on Thursday night and was outstanding sending New Jersey to its third straight loss.

“He’s huge to this team,” Ducks center and former Devil Adam Henrique said. “We’ve known that and everybody knows that; it’s no secret. He’s one of, if not the best goalie in the league. There have been a lot of moments this year where we really haven’t helped him out and he absolutely stood on his head and made huge saves just to keep us in games and give us an opportunity.”

While Gibson held the Devils at bay, the Ducks made the most of their 14 shots at Devils rookie goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood.

Daniel Sprong also had a goal and an assist and Derek Grant, was playing in his second game with the Ducks after being acquired Wednesday, got the insurance goal early in the third period. Grant scored on a setup by Terry, who was recalled from the minors Wednesday.

The Ducks made four trades in a three-day span leading to their shutout win over Minnesota on Thursday. Gibson was in goal for that one, and his only blemishes against New Jersey came when Marcus Johansson scored in close 6:50 after the opening faceoff and Jesper Bratt tallied with 56 seconds to play.

Sprong and Terry scored 1:28 apart against rookie Mackenzie Blackwood (11 saves) to give Anaheim the lead for good midway through the first period.

The difference though was Gibson, who came into the game leading the NHL in saves this season. He was outstanding in the second period when New Jersey had all three power plays and outshot Anaheim 14-3.

It started early with a save on defenseman Damon Severson coming late on a rush and included power-play stops in close against Pavel Zacha, Kyle Palmieri, Brian Boyle and Bratt and two blasts by former Anaheim defenseman Sami Vatanen.

“Maybe we deserved a little better,” Palmieri said. “It’s a tough league to win in. I think their goalie did a good job of making the first stop. They did a good job of clearing the rebounds. We didn’t get a ton of looks or it was us getting pushed out of those areas. We were competing and we were following pucks at the net and testing him as much as we could, but we couldn’t find a way to get it through him.”

Sprong had tied the game at 9:10, putting in a rebound of a Nick Ritchie deflection.

Terry, who started the season with the Ducks before being sent to San Diego (AHL), got his first goal on a power play. He took a pass from defenseman Hampus Lindholm in the right circle and ripped a shot past Blackwood, who was screened by Devin Shore, who was acquired from Dallas on Monday.

Grant scored his goal at 5:11 of the third period, shortly after Gibson stopped Nico Hischier on a shot from below the left circle.

Palmieri was added to the roster for the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game. He replaces Devils teammate Taylor Hall on the Metropolitan Division roster. … Devils placed forward Miles Wood on IR and called up forwardsNathan Bastian and Kurtis Gabriel from AHL. Bastian made his NHL debut and also got into his first fight with Ducks D Josh Manson.