Anaheim, California: Corey Perry and defenseman Sami Vatanen scored power-play goals in the first period as the Anaheim Ducks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 on Friday for their seventh consecutive victory.
John Gibson, starting in net for the first time since losing 6-4 in his hometown of Pittsburgh on opening night, faced just 17 shots as the two-time defending Pacific Division champions improved to 7-1. Last season, the Ducks also won seven straight after a season-opening loss at Colorado.
Scott Hartnell had a power-play goal for the Blue Jackets and Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves.
Perry, who got his second hat trick of the season in Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Buffalo, opened the scoring with a backhander from the edge of the crease just 1:28 after the opening faceoff and 64 seconds after David Savard was sent off for hooking Jakob Silfverberg.
The 2011 MVP has nine goals in his first eight games in the fastest start in franchise history.
In Denver, Jarome Iginla collected his first two goals for Colorado and had an assist in a win over Vancouver. Matt Duchene had a goal and two assists and Erik Johnson had a goal and an assist for Colorado, which broke out of an offensive slump to earn its first home win of the season.
It was also the first win for goalie Semyon Varlamov, who returned from injured reserve to make 26 saves. Varlamov missed three games with a groin injury suffered in a morning skate last week.
Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist for Vancouver. Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows also scored, and Eddie Lack stopped 41 shots.
