Ducks draw a blank against Marc-Andre Fleury, Blackhawks

Marc-Andre Fleury stood at one end of the ice Saturday at the United Center in Chicago, playing the 909th game of his Hall of Fame-caliber career. Lukas Dostal stood at the other end, making his third career appearance and second start, with the Ducks desperate for goaltending help.

In the end, the results were all too predictable, with Fleury turning away the Ducks again and again during the Chicago Blackhawks’ 3-0 victory for his 70th career shutout and his third this season. Fleury made 37 saves and improved his lifetime record against the Ducks to 20-5-0.

Chicago took a 1-0 lead when Brandon Hagel scored 5:33 into the second period, moments after a Ducks power play expired. Erik Gustafsson exited the penalty box just after the Blackhawks cleared the puck from their zone, gaining possession and passing to Hagel, who beat Dostal.

“People who say there’s no luck in the game are crazy,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said.

It was the only goal the Blackhawks would need to win their fourth consecutive game. The Ducks lost their third in a row, reaching the season’s midway point with a 19-15-7 record, including a 2-6-1 mark since the NHL extended its annual Christmas break because of COVID-19.

Every team in the NHL has had its lineup shredded by COVID-19 recently.

Now, it’s the Ducks’ turn.

Backup goalie Anthony Stolarz joined starter John Gibson in the league’s COVID-19 protocol only hours before the opening faceoff against the Blackhawks, leaving Eakins little choice but to turn to the 21-year-old Dostal, the third goalie on the Ducks’ depth chart.

In addition to Stolarz, the Ducks also learned defenseman Cam Fowler was unavailable to play after testing positive Saturday, joining right wing Troy Terry and defenseman Simon Benoit in the league’s protocol. What’s more, four others were sidelined by injuries, including left wing Sonny Milano.

“Eventually, eventually, we’ll be a healthy team,” Eakins said.

Other than Dostal, it was difficult to find anyone in the Ducks’ patchwork lineup who stepped up as needed Saturday. Eakins said there were opportunities for some players to shine with more ice time, additional duties on the power-play or penalty-killing units. But no one stood out.

“We’re minus our No. 1 left winger (Adam Henrique), our No. 2 left winger (Milano), our No. 1 ‘D’ (Fowler) both of our goalies (Gibson and Stolarz), and players who have been out of the lineup or who wanted a bigger opportunity, this was the time to stand up and be counted,” Eakins said.

Dostal kept the Ducks within striking distance, making difficult saves seem routine. He had zero chance to stop Hagel’s goal or Patrick Kane’s power-play strike that made it 2-0 only 4:22 into the third period. Dominik Kubalik sealed it with a late empty-net goal that made it 3-0.

Dostal made 33 saves.

“He’s obviously a special player,” Ducks rookie center Trevor Zegras said. “We’re very fortunate to have a guy step in on short notice and play like that. It was definitely very impressive and got a lot of the guys, myself included, who didn’t come to play today to get going when he made big saves.”