Gibson was strong between the pipes in his season debut, stopping 38 of 40 Columbus shots and coming within 12 wins of tying JS Giguere for the most in Ducks history.

“He was great,” Cronin said. “He hasn’t played in a long time. I think his movements were a little sloppy in the first period, but you could see as the match went on his movements became more precise.”

“(I felt) pretty good,” Gibson said. “I caught up a lot the last few weeks during training camp, but I had to give the guys credit. There were guys who showed up early, stayed behind, took shots at me and helped with the work to prepare me. I felt pretty good as the match went on and it was a good team effort.”

Despite a Columbus goal that cut Anaheim’s lead to one later in the third, Gibson and the Ducks felt encouraged by the group’s attempt to defend in the game’s final moments.

“I think they did a really good job of getting rid of the rebounds when there were rebounds and not leaving anything behind the door,” Gibson said. “(Columbus) has some big guys, so just block in front and open up a lane so I can see the puck.”

“Every time we had long zone time, Gibby was there really well and I thought the guys handled it well,” added defenseman Jackson LaCombe. “When we had our chances, we struck, so I thought we handled them well.”

Now looking for back-to-back wins for the first time this season, Anaheim’s lineup will feature some changes tonight after the club announced a series of roster moves on Wednesday morning – with center Jansen Harkins and defenseman Drew Helleson recalled, while Cam Fowler and Robby Fabbri on the Injured Reserve was placed.

Harkins, who made his Ducks debut in Colorado in October, is the American Hockey League co-leader in points and assists this season.

Meanwhile, on the other bench tonight at the Honda Center, a Golden Knights team is in the thick of the race for the Pacific Division crown, but after a pair of setbacks in Seattle and Carolina.

“Some of our veteran guys didn’t have the ‘A’ game in terms of transition and execution. I thought they were fumbling some pucks,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy told Paul Delos Santos of NHL.com after Monday’s loss to the Hurricanes. “So they could have been better and should have been better. But again, I think it was a team loss, to be honest.

Anaheim and Vegas have already met once this season, the Ducks’ second game of the year, in October at T-Mobile Arena. The Ducks pulled within one point late in the first period that night on Troy Terry’s breakaway goal, but couldn’t find the go-ahead in what would be a 3-1 loss.

“The first period was great,” Cronin said of that match. “That’s how we’re supposed to play. In the second period, we kept turning the pucks over. Over and over again. When that happens, you end up spending most of the period on defense. Then you get tired legs. Then you can’t play anymore. ” really a counterattack. We were in that spin cycle the entire second period.”

Vegas (9-4-2, 20 points) is second in the Pacific Division.