Anaheim Ducks take 2-1 series lead over Chicago Blackhawks

CHICAGO – Frederik Andersen made 27 saves, helping Anaheim kill off five power plays, and the Ducks beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Thursday night for a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.

Defenseman Simon Despres scored his first career playoff goal in the second period as top-seeded Anaheim bounced back quite nicely from a triple-overtime loss at home in Game 2. Patrick Maroon had a power-play goal and Ryan Getzlaf added two assists.

Ryan Kesler’s two holding penalties contributed to more than nine power-play minutes for the Blackhawks, but the Ducks’ penalty killers kept most of Chicago’s opportunities to the outside and Andersen stood his ground during a couple of goalmouth scrums.

“Yeah, we just sharpened up on the PK,” Andersen said. “We weren’t satisfied with what we did the last game.

“That was huge for this group coming off a tough loss where we gave up two goals on the PK. We wanted to be better today.”

Patrick Kane scored his eighth playoff goal for Chicago and Corey Crawford made 25 saves.

Game 4 is Saturday night in Chicago.

The teams were tied at 1 before Despres drove a pass from Getzlaf past Crawford from the right wing with 55 seconds left in the second. Despres came over in a trade with Pittsburgh in March.

“It’s been a good run so far,” Despres said. “We haven’t done anything yet. We want to get to the top. It’s a team game and the team has been playing very well so far.”