VIDEO: Rakell Lifts Ducks Past Avs In OT

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

Denver, CO – The Anaheim Ducks closed out their brief two-game road trip against the Colorado Avalanche. Ryan Miller was in net against Pavel Francouz.

This contest started at a fast and furious pace which saw four goals scored in the opening period. Colorado got a bounce early as Nathan MacKinnon took a shot, which ended up being blocked by Ryan Miller, but then deflected off Vladislav Namestnikov into the back of the net. The Ducks would tie it up shortly after as Andrew Aggozino scored in front of the Colorado net. Carter Rowney brought the puck behind the net and then found Aggozino for the tap in score.

Tempers flared in the opening period. Nicolas Deslauriers and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ended up dropping the gloves.

The Ducks became energized after the fight and Brendan Guhle would score to give Anaheim the lead at 2-1. Anaheim’s advantage was short-lived as Gabriel Landeskog would score on the power play to tie the game about a minute later in the period.

In the second period, the Ducks retook the lead. Ryan Getzlaf skated in behind the Colorado net and found Sam Steel in the slot, who beat Francouz on his glove side.

The Avalanche would tie the game up again on the power play in the third period. This time it was Nathan MacKinnon with the goal. Both teams would get several chances to win this game in regulation, but it would need overtime to decide this one.

Overtime

In the extra session, the teams battled back and forth as they appeared to head to a shootout. But in the dying seconds of the period, Rickard Rakell would bring the puck up ice and fire it beating Francouz with just 1.2 seconds on the clock.

Team News/Stats

The Ducks called up Troy Terry and Simon Benoit, but they both didn’t play in this contest. They both have been reassigned to San Diego.

Anaheim ended Colorado’s winning streak, which had reached seven games.

Rickard Rakell is the third player in Ducks history to score at the 4:58 mark or later in a regular-season overtime period per the NHL. Peter Douris did it on November 17th, 1995 (4:59) and Corey Perry did it on January 5th, 2014 (4:58). This was Rakell’s first goal since January 31st.

Ryan Miller earned his 386th career NHL win ranking him15th on NHL all-time wins list, passing Mike Vernon.

Anaheim won this contest without their top four defensemen, Cam Fowler, Erik Gudbranson, Hampus Lindholm, and Josh Manson.

Jani Hakanpaa made his NHL debut playing just over 15 minutes. He had four hits and one shot on goal.

Analysis

This was an extremely entertaining contest to watch. The first period was a track meet as the action didn’t seem to stop at each end of the rink. This was a big win for Anaheim after they got blown out by the last place Blackhawks on the previous night. Despite being without their top four defensemen, the Ducks were able to hang with the Avs. Colorado did have several post shots and Miller had to make key saves as well or this game could have turned ugly. And the game ended on a feel-good note for Rakell, who had been stuck on 13 goals it seemed like forever. Hopefully, the game-winning goal will get Rakell going offensively again.

What’s Next?

The Ducks return home to face Toronto this Friday at 7 PM.

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March 4th, 2020