ANAHEIM DUCKS won 4-1 against Utah (Shutterstock).

By Hugo Baker
Orange County Tribune

With a 4-1 win over the Utah Mammoth on Friday night in Salt Lake City, the Anaheim Ducks padded their lead in the NHL Pacific Division by one more point.

The Ducks are now 38-27-4, good for 80 points. That’s three ahead of the second place Edmonton Oilers (34-27-49, 77 points). Anaheim is also in fourth in the NHL Western Conference.

Lukas Dostal was near-perfect in goal for the Ducks with 29 saves on 30 shots. The teams were tied at 1-1 after one period, but the visiting Orange County team pulled away with one goal in the second and two more in the third period.

Scoring goals for the Ducks were Cutter Gauthier (his 38th), Mikael Granlund (13), Alex Kilhorn (11) and Ryan Poehing (9). Leading the team in assists on Friday was Kilhorn with two. He’s got 15 on the season.

Next up for the Ducks is a game Sunday hosting the Buffalo Sabres (43-20-6), first in the Atlantic Division and second – by two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes – in the Eastern Conference.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are scheduled to start on April 19. Sixteen teams (eight from each conference) will play a best of seven series.

Playoff berths will go to the division winners, along with the top five “wild card” teams per conference.