The wounded Anaheim Ducks, missing four key players in their lineup, have lost six of their last seven games. They also couldn’t play the entire game. The Mighty Ducks they weren’t, the lazy ducks they were.
Even so, the VGK took the second period off. That isn’t the way they play and it almost cost them two points.
The Ducks played 20 minutes of a 60-minute game, all in the second period, plus the five minutes of overtime. So stealing one point tonight with their 4-3 loss in the shootout was a gift for them.
John Gibson, the Ducks net minder, played the entire first period pretty much all by himself, stopping everything the VGK shot his way for the first 18-1/2 minutes. He faced 19 shots, along with seven missed shots on net and another seven that were blocked by Duck players. He was brilliant, just like he was the last time the Ducks played the VGK in Anaheim, facing 49 shots, while his team got away only 19 shots on the VGK net.
Last night, the two goals in the first period were rarely seen in a hockey game. They were what I can best describe as “alley-oop” goals. Both goals, one by James Neal and the other by Oscar Lindberg, came 16 seconds apart late in the first period; both slowly flipped over Gibson as he was lying on his back after saving the initial shots that were fired at him, reaching up with his glove hand to try to catch the puck before it landed behind him in the net.
On the other end of the ice, Malcolm Subban spent most of the first period relaxing. Subban did have to face three clean breakaways in the first period, one while the VGK were on a power play. He stopped all three to end the period with the lead, 2-0.
Once again, the VGK’s PP is just not performing as it should, especially from a team that has no trouble putting pucks into the net. Their penalty kill is also struggling and they gave up another power-play goal tonight.
But their penalty kill did rise to the occasion in OT, as it killed off an entire two-minute PP, when the eventual hero of the game, Alex Tuch, took a tripping penalty. Subban was like an octopus, with multiple arms and legs stopping everything shot at him. He earned his salary tonight! He shut down the Ducks, who did everything but put the puck behind him in the OT session.
Subban gave up three straight goals in the second period. For two of them, in my opinion, he never really had a chance at stopping. He was screened on the both; the second was redirected off a shot from the point.
Anaheim’s third goal by Corey Perry was a gift from VGK Erik Haula. Haula, behind the net in his offensive zone, got fancy and threw a blind pass in front of the net that went right to the Duck’s great Corey Perry, who took it the length of the ice on a breakaway and slapped it past Subban for a 3 -2 Duck lead.
I’m pretty sure that, when the coaching staff reviews the tape of the game with the team, they’ll pause it at this play and talk about how this isn’t something you should do in a game in which you’d led by two goals and were now tied at 2-2. To his credit, Haula scored late in the third period to tie the game at 3-3.
The Ducks took the entire third period off while sitting on a 3-2 lead. They sat back and tried to clog up the neutral zone, forcing VGK to carry the puck into their offensive zone. They eventually paid for that style of play when Haula redeemed himself by scoring late in the third period.
As much as I’m not a big fan of the shootout to determine the winner of a 60- to 65-minute game, the five-minute overtime is both heart-stopping and entertaining. Most fans stand the whole time. This game’s OT session was especially entertaining, as the Ducks had an entire two-minute PP that added more drama. The VGK were awarded their own PP with just under 30 seconds left. Finally, Alex Tuch scored the only goal in the shootout.
The VGK’s Oscar Lindberg, scoreless in his last 14 games, finally ended his slump with the second VGK goal in the first. Maybe he read my last post, in which I predicted that he’d be a healthy scratch once David Perron is good to return to the lineup.
The VGK are an impressive 14-4 in games in their conference. They’re 10-1 when scoring first, +18 in goals at T-Mobile, and -8 in goals on the road.
The Ducks were 9-1-3 when leading entering the third period before last night’s game, while the VGK were 3-5-1 when trailing going into the third period before tonight’s comeback win.
The VGK were 0-4 on last night’s power plays.
The VGK set yet another 100-year NHL record last night: They’re now the first expansion team in the entire history of the league to post 11 wins in just 13 home games.
They travel back east to play Nashville on Friday night at 5 p.m. Pacific time.
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