VIDEO: Ducks Earn Wild Win Over Knights

Photo: NHL

By Michael Walters

The Ducks squared off with the Vegas Golden Knights. Ryan Getzlaf was out with a lower-body injury he sustained the previous night against the Kings. Anthony Stolarz got the start against Robin Lehner.

Recap

The Ducks started out strong creating several chances, but couldn’t beat Lehner. It took Vegas about 7 minutes to register their first shot on goal.

The Golden Knights got an early power play and the Ducks were able to kill it off. Stolarz made a great stop on Reilly Smith towards the end of the period to keep it a scoreless game.

Vegas came out swinging to start the second period and Stolarz had to make a couple of early saves. The Ducks would score first on a one-timer by Troy Terry. Jamie Drysdale would find Terry coming down on the wing and he would blast a shot between Lehner’s arm and body for the score.

The Ducks would get another goal after the establishing a good forecheck. Trevor Zegras made a pass behind the Vegas net to Rickard Rakell, who took a quick shot to beat Lehner.

The Golden Knights would get one back with an odd man rush. William Carrier would break in on Stolarz and shoot back across his body to score just inside the post.

Josh Manson would answer back for the Ducks. He shot a puck near the boards, which hit a Vegas player’s leg and redirected past Lehner into the net.

Hampus Lindolm would then make it 4-1 with a point shot. Trevor Zegras provided a screen and the puck beat Lehner. The Ducks were in the driver seat and had a late power play, but it was the Golden Knights who scored shorthanded to make it 4-2 at the end of the second.

Vegas scored another shorthanded goal to start the third period and only trailed by one goal.

Jamie Drysdale then scored to reestablish the Ducks two goal lead with beautiful snipe over the shoulder Lehner.

Max Pacioretty would then answer back for Vegas with a power play goal again pulling within one goal. The Golden Knights then got a a power play with 1:52 left and looked to tie the game. They pulled their goalie and Isac Lundestrom scored to make it 6-4.

Vegas did score in the final minute to make it interesting, but the Ducks held on for the 6-5 victory.

Analysis:

The Ducks played well in the first period, but there was no scoring. Anaheim really turned it on in the second scoring four times. The Golden Knights also scored two. Their second goal was critical as it came late in the period or else they would have been down by three.

Anaheim looked good for almost 40 minutes of this game, but then gave up two shorthanded goals. The third period became a see-saw battle with the teams exchanging goals. The Ducks kept trying to pull away from the Knights, but give Vegas credit they didn’t give up even after the empty net goal.

The Ducks did not play well on special teams for a change. They gave up two power play goals to Vegas and two shorthanded goals. Anaheim had three power play chances and did not convert. The Ducks were also dominated in the face-off circle winning just 38% of the draws.

The key for Anaheim is their continued strong 5-on-5 play, especially the line of Rakell, Zegras, and Sonny Milano. They created 12 scoring chances as opposed to three by their opponents. Rakell had a goal and Milano and Zegras each had three assists. The Ducks scored four times while they were on the ice and the Knights were held off the score sheet. They posted an insane 82.61% Corsi For Percentage and 82.81% Goals For Percentage. Anaheim outscored Vegas 5-1 during 5-on-5 play.

Team Stats/News:

Terry became the third Ducks player to score 15 goals through 23 or fewer games. Teemu Selanne did it in 17 games in 1997-98 and Paul Kariya did it in 19 games in 1995-96 and 20 games in 1997-98.

This is just the second time the Ducks beat the Golden Knights at Honda Center.

What’s Next?

The Ducks host the Flames on Friday at 7 PM PT.

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December 1st, 2021