VIDEO: Milano Shines In Ducks Debut
By Kyle Miller
ANAHEIM, Calif – Sonny Milano notched his first two goals as a member of the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday night. The later of which sealed a 4-3 victory against the Edmonton Oilers.
The win brings the Ducks point total to 58 pts on the season with only 19 games remaining in the season. Edmonton remains at 74 points following the loss and sits just two points above Calgary for 3rd place in the Pacific Division.
Milano made quite an impression early on in this one. A hardworking forecheck by the Ducks forward led to a giveaway in the Oilers zone, allowing Milano enough time and space to tip in his first goal in an Anaheim sweater.
Nicolas Deslauriers ripped home a one-timer off a magnificent feed from Jacob Larsson to stretch the Ducks lead to two. Anaheim carried the two-goal lead into the first intermission.
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Hampus Lindholm left the game near the midway point in the second period after a hard collision with the boards. He was ruled out with an upper-body injury, the timetable is uncertain for his return.
Tyler Ennis tallied his first goal as an Oiler off of a well-positioned redirect from Andreas Athanasiou near the midway point of the second frame cutting the Ducks lead to just one. Edmonton trailed 2-1 heading into the third period of play.
The Oilers stormed back to tie things up at two apiece thanks in large part to Leon Draisaitl, and their lethal power-play unit early in the third.
Adam Henrique restored the Ducks lead with a quick wrist shot at the 12:33 mark, but Edmonton would erase the deficit in less than three minutes later. Athanasiou tipped home a loose puck from between the pads of John Gibson and knotted things up at three. Regulation time was not enough to decide a winner.
Overtime
Milano drew a penalty against Connor McDavid in the extra session. Milano then capped things off with a goal on the power play at 2:05 in OT to give Anaheim the win. Henrique and Getzlaf were credited with assists.
Analysis
A solid effort from the Ducks tonight propelled the team to its first victory in just over a week snapping a four-game skid. Major contributions came from Sonny Milano and Adam Henrique. Both scored critical goals, and both tallied two points.
The Ducks never trailed in this game, but the Oilers were never too far away in the rearview mirror either. The game was tightly contested, and Edmonton came back from deficits twice in this one. Ultimately, the Ducks were able to outlast the onslaught of shots on Gibson and score an early OT goal.
Despite the loss, Edmonton might have easily flipped the result if a few more of their scoring chances had resulted in shots on net, especially when Anaheim was caught out of position on defense multiple times throughout the game.
It’s way too early to tell how this squad will gel together in Anaheim, but the next 19 games will be a good litmus test to see who might be part of the squad for next season.
Notes/Stats
Five players tallied multi-point nights on Tuesday. McDavid (3), Milano (2), Henrique (2), Athanasiou (2), Ennis (2). Three of which were making their debut with new teams following the trade deadline: Milano, Athanasiou, and Ennis.
Lindholm has an upper-body injury and the extent of the injury is unknown.
Duck Debuts
Andrew Agozzino finished with a +1 +- rating and won 60% of his draws on Tuesday night
Danton Heinen earned his first assist on the Henrique goal late in the third.
Christian Djoos registered 1 SOG and finished with an even +/- rating
Matt Irwin had 2 SOG, 7 hits, 3 blocks, and finished with a -1 +/- rating
Up Next: Pittsburgh 2/28 7 P.M. @ Honda Center
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February 25th, 2020