The Anaheim Ducks earned a win in their home opener last night, defeating Utah 5-4 in overtime.
Olen Zellweger came back into the lineup in place of Urho Vaakanainen, while Lukas Dostal got the start.
First Period
Anaheim had some chances within the first five minutes, including a great opportunity for Cam Fowler off a rebound that was stopped by Connor Ingram. However, only about a minute after Fowler was denied, the third line came down ice with an excellent passing play, as Ryan Strome found Troy Terry with a great pass to beat Ingram, putting Anaheim ahead early.
Then only shortly after that, Leo Calrsson had a great chance in-close, but was hooked by Lawson Crouse, though the Ducks then couldn’t take advantage of the ensuing power play. But only a couple minutes later, Jack McBain was able to tip-in a point shot from Mikhail Sergachev when Tristan Luneau couldn’t tie him up, evening the game.
Utah built a lot of pressure in the Ducks’ end from there, drawing a power play chance off a Cutter Gauthier penalty. Then on that man advantage, Nick Schmaltz took the puck to the net and Barrett Hayton buried the rebound, putting Utah ahead.
Anaheim did have another power play opportunity, but once again, couldn’t get a ton going on it, exiting the frame down a goal. While the first 10 minutes of the period looked pretty promising for the Ducks, they took their foot off the gas a bit, and lost the special teams battle.
Second Period
Utah started the middle frame on a power play after a late first period tripping penalty, but the Ducks managed to kill it off. Anaheim then really began to build a bit of momentum from there, with a great chance off a rush for Isac Lundestorm, followed by some offensive zone pressure.
Then about eight minutes into the period, Trevor Zegras completed a nice pass out to Robby Fabbri in the slot, with Fabbri then going to backhand to beat Ingram, tying the game.
Utah did build some pressure in the back half of the period with some good chances, including a good save for Dostal on Logan Cooley’s drive to the net. Anaheim went back the other way only about a minute later though on a 2-on-1, and Alex Killorn took a great pass from Frank Vatrano, but missed the net wide.
Then with only three minutes to go in the period, Mason McTavish found Pavel Mintyukov across the zone for a chance, and Mintyukov managed to beat Ingram, putting the Ducks back ahead.
Anaheim then had another late power play to close the frame, but it was another disappointing man advantage. Still, the Ducks took the 3-2 lead to intermission, following a pretty strong second period.
Third Period
The Ducks ended up with a great opportunity early in the third period, with a long 5-on-3. Leo Carlsson ended up with a point-blank chance from the slot that he put off the crossbar, but once again, Anaheim couldn’t capitalize.
Then after killing off the penalty, Utah came down on a rush and with absolutely nobody picking up the trailer, Michael Kesselring had time to fire a shot to beat Dostal, tying the game once again.
A fight between Radko Gudas and Josh Doan followed a little bit after, and then Trevor zZgras had a great chance, but was denied by Ingram. A bit of a scary scene followed, with Isac Lundestrom taking a hit in the corner and remaining down for maybe a minute, before heading to the dressing room.
Then with about nine minutes to go, Nick Schmaltz found Clayton Keller in the slot with a nice pass, and Keller went to the backhand to beat Dostal, putting Utah back ahead.
However, with five minutes left, the Ducks came back down ice and while Brock McGinn’s shot was stopped, Pavel Mityukov put the rebound back on net and it eventually found its way in through Ingram to tie the game once again for overtime.
Overtime
In the extra frame, it didn’t take long to get a decision, with Troy Terry helping to force a turnover from Nick Schmaltz, and Leo Carlsson going in alone to deke Ingram and score, leaving the Ducks with the 5-4 win.
Takeaways
The game ended up turning into one of the more exciting contests that I’ve seen so far this season, and while it was fairly evenly played overall, Anaheim looked better than they had in their first two games.
The Ducks were able to generate more offense, and outshot Utah 30-23 at even strength. It seems like more of the team's top forwards were playing closer to their abilities, with all of Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras, and Troy Terry contributing in the win. We know that if the Ducks are going to take a step this year, they’ll need their top-six to be able to consistently contribute, so it was good to see all of their top forwards producing last night.
Anaheim also continues to look more structured defensively. There are still mistakes, and I have concerns about the Fowler/Luneau pairing, but the Mintyukov/Dumoulin duo looks like it could be a key for the team this season.
That said, the Ducks’ power play looks awful. Not only did they not score but they barely got anything going at all, generating no quality opportunities on most of their power plays.
Still, it’s a big win for Anaheim, putting together their best game so far. They were able to keep up in a back-and-forth scoring contest, and battle back twice upon falling behind.
The Ducks will be back in action tomorrow, when they face the Colorado Avalanche.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- Ducks split back-to-back to open season with win over Sharks, loss to VGK
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