Anaheim Earns A Point Against Tampa Bay

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks closed out the 2025 year hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning. Lukas Dostal was in net against Andrei Vasilevskiy. Radko Gudas missed his second straight game as he was dealing with an illness.

Tampa Bay scored in the opening minutes of this contest when Brayden Point scored in close near the Anaheim net. The Ducks challenged the play and the goal did not count as the play was deemed offside.

Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead for real at 13:30 after Darren Raddysh found J.J. Moser in the left circle. He beat Dostal just under his glove with a wrist shot. The Lightning led 1-0 after the opening period.

Anaheim got on the board just under five minutes into the middle frame. Ross Johnston stole the puck in the Tampa Bay zone and then found Jansen Harkins on the rush for a tap in goal.

Point put Tampa Bay back ahead by one goal with just under a minute to go in the second period. Point redirected a pass from Maxwell Crozier at the side of the net for the score.

Beckett Sennecke tied the game up at two early in the third period. Mason McTavish knocked the puck loose behind the Tampa Bay net. Sennecke got to it and then scored from the side of the net with a quick wrist shot.

Nikita Kucherov scored on the power play with a one-timer to put Tampa Bay up 3-2 with eight minutes to go.

McTavish tied up the game one more time on the power play about a minute later. Pavel Mintyukov kept the puck in the Tampa Bay zone after they tried to clear the puck. McTavish got the puck, skated in the slot and beat Vasilevskiy blocker side.

Bonus hockey was needed to determine a winner. Both teams had chances to win and eventually Raddysh got the puck the slot and beat Dostal to the far post to win the game.

Analysis:

This was a see-saw contest from start to finish. Every time Tampa Bay scored a goal then Anaheim responded in turn with a goal. The game was tied after regulation and any team could have won, but the pattern continued with the Lightning scoring in overtime for the win.

The Ducks kept Hagel from scoring, but they couldn’t stop his play making ability as he assisted on three of the four Tampa Bay goals including the game-winner in overtime.

Overall Anaheim played a decent even strength game posting a CF% of 52.13% and FF% of 53.03%. The Ducks put up 49 shot attempts to 45 for Tampa Bay. The Lightning had a slight edge in shots on goals 29 to 28. The teams both had three power plays and each scored once with the man advantage.

The Ducks have lost four in a row and have gone 2-6-2 in their last 10 games. As a team special teams and defense have been issues recently, but the offense also been inconsistent.

One player who has been in a drought offensively is Chris Kreider. He had such a strong start to the season with 13 goals and 6 assists in his first 22 games. He has no goals and just three assists in his last 14 games. He was also a big part of the early season success on the power play.

Another player who has struggled recently is Leo Carlsson. He hasn’t scored a goal in his last eight games and has just three assists. The Ducks need to figure out how to get both of these guys going soon.

Team Notes/Stats:

The Ducks announced during this contest that Frank Vatrano with a fractured shoulder from the fall he took into the boards against LA last Saturday.

What’s Next?

The Ducks host the Minnesota Wild on Friday at 7:30 PM.

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December 31st, 2025