VIDEO: Ducks Earn A Point In Nashville

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks hit the road to face the Nashville Predators. Urho Vaakanainen made his season debut as being hurt in preseason. John Gibson was in net against Juuse Saros.

Recap

Colton White had a chance to score early of Anaheim, but Saros kicked the puck away at the last second. Predators had a few chances early and Gibson made the stops.

The Predators got the first power play of the game as Dmitry Kulikov was called for high sticking. The Ducks were able to kill off the penalty.

Moments later Max Jones was sprung on a breakaway from a pass from Brett Leason. He tried to backhand the puck over Saros’ glove, but he was denied.

Nashville got a power play early in the middle frame and the Ducks were able to kill it off.

The Ducks then had a 2-on-0. Troy Terry was in front and passed it back to Trevor Zegras whose shot was blocked.

Nashville would score first halfway through the second period. Matt Duchene found Colton Sissons at the side of the net for a tap in goal. Jakob Silfverberg was out of gas trying to back check as the team had been caught on the ice for a while.

The Ducks nearly tied the game on a shot from Cam Fowler. Zegras found him open in the slot, but Fowler’s shot rang off the crossbar.

In the beginning of the third, Simon Benoit took a slap shot that beat Saros five-hole, but went wide of the net.

Troy Terry would tie the game up halfway through the third period. He brought the puck in the slot and took a shot that Saros tried to stop with this glove, but it deflected off his glove and was able to get by him.

Bonus hockey would be needed for this game.

Overtime:

Gibson made a huge save on a breakaway on Filip Forsberg. In the next sequence, Zegras then had got to the puck and sent it to the boards with no one around. The Predators got to the puck and a few passes later, the puck was on Roman Josi’s stick, who scored to win it 2-1.

Analysis:

The Ducks played a fast paced game in the opening 20 minutes, but no one scored. The Predators were able to get on the board in the second as the Ducks were caught on ice for an extended amount of time after icing the puck. Terry continues to be red hot and scored his 10th to tie things up in the third period. Anaheim was able to get a point, but it’s unfortunate to see how the game ended. It looked like Zegras thought Colton White was back along the boards, but instead he went to the bench for a change. The miscommunication resulted in the game winning goal for Nashville.

This was a hard fought game that only saw two penalties called, both on Anaheim. The Predators had a slight edge in shots on goal with 41 to 35. They also had the advantage in terms of puck possession in the first two periods, but the Ducks then had the edge in the third period. Lastly, it was good to see Gibson back in net after the collision he took in Sunday night’s game. He played excellent stopping 39 of 41 shots.

Team Stats/News:

John Klingberg(lower-body injury) missed his third game.

The Ducks were 3-0 in overtime until this game.

Anaheim wore their reserve retro jerseys and will wear them for the entire road trip.

What’s Next?

The Ducks face the Dallas Stars on Thursday at 5:30 PM.

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November 30th, 2022