The Anaheim Ducks picked up their first win of a four-game road trip tonight, defeating the New York Islanders 3-1.
The Ducks went with the following lines up front: Fabbri-Carlsson-Terry, Gauthier-Zegras-Killorn, Vatrano-McTavish-Strome, and Johnston-Lundestrom-McGinn. The defense pairings remained the same, and Lukas Dostal got the start.
First Period
It wasn’t a wildly eventful first half of the opening frame, but the Islanders were controlling the play early. A penalty to Pierre Engvall did put Anaheim on the power play with a little under eight minutes to go in the period, and the Ducks managed to convert, with Leo Carlsson tipping in a shot from Frank Vatrano to open the scoring.
Brock McGinn then had a golden chance to extend the lead with an open net, but he was denied on a huge save from Sorokin. Robby Fabbri had an opportunity late in the frame as well, both off an initial shot and then a rebound, but Sorokin came up with the saves.
So while the Islanders may have outshot Anaheim, the Ducks had their chances, and took a 1-0 lead to intermission off the power play goal.
Second Period
The Islanders ended up with a power play early in the second period, but couldn’t convert. Olen Zellweger then nearly extended the lead with a shot off the crossbar, before the Islanders came close to tying it a few minutes later, when a puck pin-balled around behind Dostal but stayed out.
Another power play for New York followed around the midway mark of the frame, but Anaheim did a good job preventing any quality chances. The Ducks then had another power play of their own after that off a second penalty to Pierre Engvall, and they managed to capitalize once again, with Mason McTavish finding Troy Terry in front to beat Sorokin, making it a 2-0 game.
The Islanders had a great chance a little later on a 2-on-1, but Dostal got over to make an excellent save on Anders Lee. As a result, the Ducks retained their two-goal lead through 40 minutes.
Third Period
New York had a great chance early in the third period with a long 5-on-3, and the Ducks did get lucky with a shot off crossbar, but eventually, Mathew Barzal took a pass to beat Dostal to cut the lead to one.
The Islanders had a lot of pressure in the first half of the frame, but a penalty to Maxim Tsyplakov put the Ducks back on the power play, though this time, Anaheim really couldn’t get much going on the man advantage. Still, the Islanders' momentum died a little bit from there.
Patrick Roy called a late timeout, and the Islanders pulled Sorokin for an extra attacker to press for the tie, but Frank Vatrano ended up sealing a 3-1 win for Anaheim with an empty netter.
Takeaways
It’s a big win for the Ducks, getting their first win of the road trip. Ultimately, it came as a result of two key factors, being 1) the power play continuing to show improvement, scoring twice, and 2) Lukas Dostal once again being the team’s MVP.
It’s a great sign that the Ducks continued to look more dangerous on the power play, going 2-for-3. After looking so lifeless on the man advantage early in the season, it’s seeming like Anaheim has figured things out.
That said, the Ducks are still having issues attacking off the rush at even strength. I’ve mentioned it before, but it often seems like there’s no support for the puck carrier, essentially rendering a lot of entries with speed useless until Anaheim actually sets up in the offensive zone.
Troy Terry continues what’s been a strong start to the season though, now with five goals across nine games. Mason McTavish also picked up two assists, which is a good sign after his slow start. They may have both been on the power play, and his effectiveness at even strength has still been a bit of a question at times, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
It wasn’t a perfect game, and Anaheim still looked a little slow in their own end. It seemed a bit like when the Islanders took possession, Anaheim had a hard time getting the puck back.
But in yet another game, Lukas Dostal managed to be great for the Ducks, despite them being outshot by a massive 41-22 margin. It’s hard to really emphasize just how important Dostal has been, but the young netminder has been simply outstanding early in the season.
So it wasn’t necessarily pretty, but the Ducks got the win. To be fair, they also had some excellent chances at even strength that were stopped by Sorokin, but they were often more one-off opportunities than actual sustained pressure.
But with the win, the Ducks get back to a .500 points percentage. They’ll end the road trip on Thursday, when they face the Pittsburgh Penguins.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- Ducks split back-to-back to open season with win over Sharks, loss to VGK
- Ducks beat Utah in home opener after back-and-forth battle
- Lukas Dostal makes 45 saves, but Ducks fall to Avalanche in overtime
- Ducks' offense falls flat in 4-1 loss to Kings
- Ducks’ four-game road trip will serve as good test
- Ducks lose both games of weekend back-to-back vs. Rangers and Devils
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