VIDEO: Ducks Come Up Short Against Kings
By Michael Walters
The Anaheim Ducks hosted the Los Angeles Kings. John Gibson was in net against Jonathan Quick. Sam Carrick was out with a lower-body inijury and Urho Vaakanainen was out with a non-COVID illness.
Recap
The Anaheim Ducks got off to a slow start. They didn’t register a shot on goal until almost halfway through the opening period. It was a quiet opening period overall. The Kings had 10 shots on goal to 7 for Ducks.
The Kings took the lead early in the second period. Adrian Kempe got the puck off the face-off and shot the puck over Gibson’s shoulder for the score.
The Ducks got a power play chance and were able to tie up the game. Adam Henrique broke in alone on Quick and backhanded a shot over the goalie to tie the game up at one.
Later in the period, Ryan Getzlaf almost scored to take the lead on another power play. He then found Sonny Milano next to the net and again Quick denied him to keep the game tied at one. The Ducks generated many quality scoring chances in the period, but the teams remained tied at one.
The Kings scored early in the third period, but the on ice officials said it was no goal due to goalie interference. LA challenged the call and it was ruled a good goal. Toronto reviewed the play and deemed there was no goalie interference.
The Ducks had chances to tie the game, but Quick stopped everything that was thrown his way. Anaheim pulled Gibson for the extra skater, but weren’t able to score. Kings held on to win 2-1.
Analysis (Stats Per Natural Stat Trick):
The Ducks started off slow in the opening period, but then ramped things up. Anaheim had 27 shot attempts in the second period. They had three power play chances in the middle frame and were able to score once with the extra man. Quick played extremely well or else the Ducks could have been ahead by a few goals by the end of the second period.
The Kings took the lead for good in third period, but on a controversial play. Viktor Arvidsson took a shot on Gibson and then collided with him. Phillip Danault picked up the rebound and scored to make it 2-1. The on-ice officials ruled the goal was not good due to goalie interference. The Kings challenged the play and the war room in Toronto deemed it was a good goal and that were wasn’t goalie interference.
NHL Rule 69.1 defines goalie interference. Goals should be disallowed only if: 1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within their crease or defend his goal; or 2) an attacking player initiates intentional or deliberate contact with a goalkeeper, inside or outside of his goal crease. Incidental contact with a goalkeeper will be permitted, and resulting goals allowed, when such contact is initiated outside of the goal crease, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.
In reviewing the play, Arvidsson made contact with Gibson outside of the crease and it appeared he tried to skate away from Gibson and avoid contact. The main issue is whether the contact was incidental or not. Arvidsson knocked Gibson’s goal stick out of his hand, which appeared to imped his ability to defend his goal and make a save against Danault. The officials in Toronto felt otherwise and deemed the contact was incidental.
This was a good goalie duel and battle between the two SoCal teams. It’s unfortunate a winner was determined by a controversial goal.
What’s Next?
The Ducks and Kings will meet one last time this season on Saturday in LA.
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April 19th, 2022