VIDEO: Nic’s Natural Night

Photo: AP

By Richard Gonzalez

The Anaheim Ducks took on the Ottawa Senators in their third game of a four-game homestand. The Ducks recently lost 5-4 in overtime to the Minnesota Wild and the Senators are coming in with a two-game win streak, including their 2-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. Ryan Miller and Marcus Hogberg would each get the start for their respective teams.

The Ducks started the attack early by scoring twice in under three minutes. Jakob Silfverberg scored on the game’s first penalty and Nicolas Deslauriers would score seconds later to give the Ducks a two-goal lead. Deslauriers would not be done after his first goal. He would later score his second at the 11:17 mark and his hat trick third goal at the 11:49 mark to complete his first natural hat trick. Deslauriers’ hat trick was the fastest in Ducks history (11:49). The Ducks would be outshot 14-6 in the first but lead 4-0.

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Rickard Rakell got called for slashing early in the second period. The Senators would get some close chances and thought they scored but the puck never crossed the line. Brady Tkachuk would give some life to the Senators by scoring but the Ducks would soon answer back on another power play goal. This time, Rakell would crash the net and score his 15th of the season. The Senators outshot the Ducks, 14-5 in this period, but the Ducks would lead 5-1.

The third period slowed down significantly from the first two. The Ducks seemed more content on killing the clock off rather than adding to their lead. Each team would take and kill off minor penalties. The Senators would score a little after the midway point but could not get anything else through Miller’s stellar play. They would again be outshot, 14-4 in this period but would hold on to the 5-2 lead to win the game.

Analysis:

This was a fun game to see from the beginning. The Ducks started off with a high level of play and really seemed to have a chip on their shoulder. I am not sure if barely beating the Senators back in February motivated them to go out and prove themselves more.

Deslauriers had an explosive night and earned his first career hat trick. He also set a new Ducks franchise record. That was the absolute best part of the night and was definitely exciting to see it live. He was absolutely buzzing out there and earned each goal his scored. Of course, he credited his line-mate, Carter Rowney for his goals in the Ducks postgame interviews. I was a little annoyed about the lopsided shot total but they got a win, scored twice on the power play and we saw Deslauriers get rewarded.

Team Notes/Stats:

Deslauriers recorded his first career hat trick.

The previous record for the fastest hat trick in a game was held by Teemu Selanne(12:58) on November 10th, 1997.

Isac Lundestrom was reassigned to San Diego.

What’s Next?

The Ducks will be back at it again tonight when they take on the St. Louis Blues in a makeup game.

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March 10th, 2020