VIDEO: Ducks Edge Blues 3-2 In OT

Photo: Field Level Media

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks took on the St. Louis Blues for the second time this weekend. John Gibson was out with an upper body injury and was listed as day-to-day. Anthony Stolarz got the start in net against Jordan Binnington.

Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras were both scratched for this contest. Drysdale took an awkward hit in Friday’s win and he has been practicing, but Head Coach Dallas Eakins elected to give him the game off. Eakins felt Zegras didn’t have a good game on Friday, so he benched him too. Zegras was also reassigned to the taxi squad.

First Period

The Blues would get on the board in the opening minutes. Rickard Rakell would turn over the puck in the Ducks zone and Ryan O’Reilly would get a goal as a result.

The Ducks were awarded a power play when Niko Mikkola was called for holding. Anaheim was only able to manage one shot on net with the extra man.

Jani Hakanpaa was called for interference and Vladimir Tarasenko would score on the power play to make it 2-0 Blues.

Second Period

The Blues continued the pressure to start the period and had a couple of solid scoring chances that went wide of the Ducks net.

The Ducks would pull within one when Ryan Getzlaf led a rush up ice and found Cam Fowler in the slot, who buried a shot past Binnington. The Blues would get a power play shortly after the Ducks goal, but St. Louis did not convert.

A freak collision happened towards the end of the period. Kyle Clifford was skating behind Rickard Rakell at the blue line and lost an edge. He went down and took Rakell’s legs out from under him. Rakell fell awkwardly and hit his head on the ice. He went straight to the locker room and did not return.

Third Period

The Ducks brought pressure to start the final frame and ended up tying the game on a beautiful goal by Adam Henrique. Max Jones would backhand a pass to Henrique, who would then backhanded the puck past Binnington to tie the game up.

The Blues would make a push at the end of the period to try to win the game, but the Ducks were able to hold on and force overtime.

Overtime

In the extra session, Josh Manson would get the puck and get past the Blues defense. He would then backhand the puck over the shoulder of Binnington, who went down to block the bottom half of the net. The play was started by Stolarz, who made a stretch pass to Manson as some players headed to the bench.

Analysis:

The Blues came out with determination to start this game. St. Louis built a 2-0 lead, but Anaheim did battle back to tie the game up. Stolarz kept the Ducks in this game despite getting down early finishing the night with 38 saves on 40 shots.

For the second night in a row Eakins went with the 11 forward/7 defensemen lineup and the Ducks were able to get another win. Both wins were due to quality goaltending despite not icing an optimal lineup.

There was a scary moment in this game when Rakell went down and appeared to hit his head on the ice in a freak collision. Hopefully he will be okay.

Team Notes/Stats

Ryan Getzlaf‘s assist gives him a total of 980 NHL points, which is just eight behind Teemu Selanne for the franchise lead.

Anthony Stolarz earned his first NHL win since February 12th, 2019.

What’s Next?

The Ducks will play the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow at 6PM PT.

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March 28th, 2021