Ducks Lay An Egg In Ottawa

Photo: NHL

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks continued their road trip in Ottawa against the Senators. Ville Husso was in net against Linus Ullmark.

There was no scoring in the first period. Ottawa had two power plays, but did not convert on either one.

The Senators scored in the opening minutes of the second period. Ottawa had a 2-on-1 and Michael Amadio took a shot which hit Husso in the side and then deflected into the back of the net.

Ottawa scored again later in the period. Tim Stutzle clipped Husso’s right skate and the Ducks challenged for goalie interference. The situation reviewed the play and still award Ottawa the goal. Thomas Chabot was credited with a shorthanded goal. The Sens held a 2-0 lead after two periods.

The Senators appeared to take a 3-0 lead in the latter stages of the third period, but the goal was called back for goalie interference. Stutzle scored an acrobatic goal, but he crashed into Husso before shooting the puck in the net.

Anaheim pulled Husso in the final minutes, but couldn’t get on the board and lost 2-0.

Analysis:

The Ducks did not get off to a good start in this one. Anaheim didn’t register their first shot on goal until just over halfway through the first period. The Ducks only put up 5 shots on goal in the first period and also only put up 7 in the second period. Anaheim applied all kinds of pressure in the third period nearly doubling their shot total in the final frame, but still came up empty.

This was the second game in a row surrounded by controversy. In the second period Chabot was credited with a goal even though Stutzle made contact with Husso’s skate and glove. As described in NHL rule 69.1, “Goals should be diswallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his 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.”

The situation room in Toronto deemed the contact incidental and therefore a good goal. The problem with that decision is NHL rule 69.1 is an “or” not “and” rule so you can have incidental contact and still impair a goalie’s ability to defend his goal as described in (1) of this rule. Therefore the goal should have been disallowed regardless if the contact was incidental or not.

Okay I will take off my lawyer hat and let’s get back to the Ducks overall performance. Even with the controversial goal given to Ottawa, Anaheim didn’t play well enough to win in the first half of this contest. They had the opposite problem in this contest as compared to the game in Toronto. Against the Maple Leafs the Ducks were the better team in the first half and then faded in the second half. In this contest, the Ducks got off to a slow start and didn’t show up until the second half of the game.

The Ducks need to work on playing complete games and their special teams play if they want to win the Pacific Division and/or make a strong run in the playoffs.

Team Stats/Notes:

Radko Gudas was suspended five games for his hit on Auston Matthews and served the first game of his suspension today.

John Carlson did not play today, but the hope is he will make his Anaheim debut tomorrow.

What’s Next?

The Ducks are back at it in Montreal tomorrow at 4 PM.

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March 14th, 2026