Ducks unleash the power in 2-1 win over Sharks

Sheldon Souray’s 100-plus-mph slapshot makes hardened NHL players skate for cover in practice.

Souray, a defenseman for the Ducks, launched his barely seen flying weapon at a crucial moment Monday, burying a goal past the glove of San Jose goaltender Thomas Greiss to give Anaheim a 2-1 victory and hand the Sharks their first regulation loss of the season.

Viktor Fasth, the Ducks’ rookie backup goalie, preserved the victory by stopping 25 of 26 shots against a team that had scored 30 goals before Monday.

Fasth, who kept the Sharks (7-1-1) scoreless in the second and third periods, called the effort the Ducks’ best of the season.

“The guys battled incredibly in front of me,” Fasth, now 3-0, said. “We’re an elite team too. Every day it goes, I feel better and better.”

Headed to a six-game trip starting Wednesday in Colorado, the Ducks improved to 6-1-1 and concluded a sweep of Minnesota, the Kings and the Sharks in four days.

“The big picture” of the trip “can be overwhelming,” Souray said. “We’ll just have to play it like we have these three, just as they come.”

Souray’s game-winner with 6 minutes 39 seconds left came on a pass from Francois Beauchemin, the Ducks avenging a shootout loss to the Sharks on Jan. 29 in which they gave up a late third-period goal.

The win “shows we can compete against every team in the league,” Souray said.

Ducks center Saku Koivu tied the score with 16:07 left in the third period, collecting a San Jose pass that bounced off the boards behind the goal directly in front of Greiss rather than wrapping behind the goal to Sharks teammate Brad Stuart.

“If you keep pushing and working, you’ve got to believe those breaks will happen,” Koivu said. “Those things don’t happen very often … once every couple of years.”

Fasth preserved the lead following a Ducks penalty seconds later, stopping Martin Havlat’s effort up close, then rejecting a shot by Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

The Ducks had what appeared to be a golden opportunity, a two-man advantage later in the third, but after a Souray shot was denied, the Sharks actually had two of their own scoring chances stopped by Fasth.

A breakaway by Patrick Marleau was stopped by Fasth poking his stick onto Marleau’s in front of the goal.

The intensity between the Pacific Division rivals was high even in the scoreless second period, with the Ducks firing 14 shots at Greiss.

Fasth held up to close-range shots by Tommy Wingels and Marleau, the NHL’s leading goal scorer, with nine.

Through two periods, the Ducks had 17 scoring chances to the Sharks’ nine.

The Ducks’ Andrew Cogliano nearly scored on an open rebound of a Daniel Winnik shot, but San Jose defenseman Jason Demers turned and blocked the puck to save the goal.

The Ducks killed off all six of the Sharks’ power plays.

The Sharks opened the scoring with center Logan Couture’s sixth goal.

Couture, positioned at the crease, slapped the puck by Fasth on an assist by Andrew Desjardins and Wingels with 1:52 remaining in the first period.

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