Ducks Earn A Point Against The Lightning

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks continued their road trip in Tampa Bay against the Lightning. Lukas Dostal was in net against Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Recap

The Ducks opened up the scoring with a goal by Troy Terry about six minutes into this contest. Ryan Strome attempted a pass that deflected off Terry and in for the opening score.

The Lightning answered later in the period on a power play. Anthony Cirelli was in close to the net and scored on a pass from Brandon Hagel.

Tampa Bay scored again on the power play late in the first period. Jake Guentzel got to a rebound behind Dostal and tapped it in for an easy score. The Lightning led 2-1 at the end for the first period.

Anaheim tied the game up about halfway through the second period. Leo Carlsson got the puck at the right face-off circle and beat Vasilevskiy over the shoulder to tie the game up.

Brayden Point answered for Tampa Bay to put them up 3-2 with just under five minutes to go in the second period. Olen Zellweger appeared to stop the puck short of the goal line, but upon review the puck completely crossed the goal line before it was kicked out by Zellweger.

Robby Fabbri tied the game up once again halfway through the third period. He redirected a shot from the point by Jacob Trouba to even things up.

The teams were tied in regulation and needed bonus hockey to determine a winner. In the overtime there was no scoring and the teams went to a shootout. Guentzel was the only player that scored in the shootout to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 win.

Analysis:

The Ducks got off to a decent start scoring first, but then the Lightning answered with two goals in the first period. Anaheim was able to come back from a one goal deficit two times in this game to force overtime. The Ducks were able to earn point on the road against the Lightning.

Anaheim played a solid game at even strength. The Ducks put up 58 shot attempts to 48 for the Lightning. Anaheim posted a CF% of 54.73% and a FF% of 58.97%. The Ducks out scored the Lightning 3-1 at even strength play.

The difference in this contest was the special teams once again. The Ducks were undisciplined and had some iffy calls against them that resulted in five power play chances of the Lightning. Tampa Bay was able to score twice with the man advantage. Anaheim had two power plays and didn’t convert on either one.

Mason McTavish played on the wing in this contest with Leo Carlsson at center. The two seemed to have good chemistry as they created several good scoring chances. McTavish set up Carlsson for his goal in the second period. Head Coach Greg Cronin would be wise to continue exploring the idea of these two playing together on the same line going forward.

Team Notes/Stats:

Pavel Mintyukov played in his 100th NHL game.

Head Athletic Trainer Chad Walker took part in his 500th NHL game.

The Ducks are 17-0-2 when scoring 3 or more goals this season.

What’s Next?

The Ducks play the Florida Panthers Saturday at 3 PM.

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January 16th, 2025