VIDEO: House Wins As Ducks Lose 5-2 In Vegas

Photo: AP

By Aaron Francis

The Anaheim Ducks played the final game of their road trip against the Vegas Golden Knights. After losing three games in a row, Anaheim broke out with a win against Colorado in the previous game. The Ducks would be without the services of Hampus Lindholm for this game as he was listed with a lower-body injury from the previous night. The starter for Anaheim was John Gibson and Marc-Andre Fleury was between the pipes for the Golden Knights.

Despite the outcome of the period, things started off strong for the Ducks who got on the board relatively early in the game. Good hustle from Maxime Comtois allowed him to control the puck behind the net and send a pass to Ryan Getzlaf who buried the puck into the net beating Fleury, 1-0 Anaheim. This lead was short-lived however as less than a minute later Vegas would come back and tie the game. Mark Stone got all alone in the slot and took a shot that hit the post but came back out in front of the crease where Cam Fowler‘s clearing attempt sent the puck in the goal, 1-1 tie.

From this point on Vegas dominated the period, starting off with sustained pressure in the offensive zone. Korbinian Holzer failed his attempt to clear the zone leading to a turnover and a delayed penalty against Anaheim. But just as the ref raised his hand to make the call a falling William Carrier made the pass to Ryan Reaves who scored, 2-1 Vegas. Anaheim played without the puck for most of this period and a giveaway in the neutral zone led to Nicolas Roy skating through the Ducks defense and scoring his first NHL goal, 3-1 Vegas. The Ducks took a penalty towards the end of the period but were able to kill it off. Shots were 17-5 in favor of the Golden Knights at the end of one.

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The second period started off slower than the first as both teams struggled to generate shots for the first 10 minutes or so. Vegas would be the ones to break this trend however as the Ducks would take a penalty that led to a goal by William Karlsson. It appeared the Knights had scored right as the power play began, but the goal was called back as it had not crossed the goal line. A great passing play by the Knights power play unit was finished off by Karlsson moments later, extending the lead to 4-1 Vegas. The two teams finished out the period with long stretches of uninterrupted play and no changes to the scoreboard. Shots were 33-11 Golden Knights after two periods of play.

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Anaheim and Vegas would trade goals in the final period and would end in a loss for the Ducks. The Ducks would take two early penalties in this period the first being a call on Getzlaf. Vegas made no mistake capitalizing on the power play yet again as Paul Stastny scored to make it 5-1 Vegas. The second penalty was killed off by the Ducks but with time running out, things were not looking good for Anaheim. Troy Terry would make a nice move to break into the Knights zone and feed Adam Henrique who scored to make it 5-2 Vegas. Down the stretch, there was hardly any push back from the Ducks and John Gibson needed to make several strong saves to keep the Knights from adding to their big lead. The final shots were 49-15 in favor of Vegas.

Team Stats/News:

Ryan Getzlaf has scored in back-to-back games.

Adam Henrique leads the Ducks in goals with seven.

John Gibson made 44 stops in the loss, his most saves in a game this season.

Analysis

Anaheim played one of their best road games of the season against Colorado in the previous game and yet fell absolutely flat in Vegas. Injuries have taken their toll on hits team but this game exposed many holes in the Ducks game that need to be corrected. Miscommunications between the Ducks skater occurred numerous times and often led to key scoring chances for the Knights and lack of offensive zone time for the Ducks.

There aren’t many games where the two teams shot totals are separated by a gap larger than 30, and yet Vegas found a way to absolute shell Gibson virtually unchallenged by the Ducks. It’s a game that Anaheim needs to forget about fast as they come home for their longest home stand of the season. It’s a huge chance to rack up points at home where they have played very well so far this season.

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October 27th, 2019