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The Anaheim Ducks came up short against the Minnesota Wild today, falling 5-4 in a shootout.
Pavol Regenda came into the Ducks’ lineup, after Isac Lundestrom was injured in Anaheim’s loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
The Ducks found themselves down early, as Calen Addison’s point shot bounced in off Max Jones under five minutes into the game. However, only a few minutes later, Minnesota couldn’t get the puck out of their end and the Ducks capitalized, with Ryan Strome tipping in a shot in-close to tie the game. Minnesota reinstated the lead later in the frame though, with John Gibson unable to cover a puck in front after a big save, and Connor Dewar poked the puck in. Overall, it was an alright opening frame, but Anaheim still trailed through 20 minutes.
Minnesota outshot Anaheim pretty badly through the first half of the second frame, but Anaheim managed to tie the game on a power play midway through the period, as Cam Fowler put a shot through traffic to score. Then with only a minute to go in the period, Dmitry Kulikov’s shot was deflected on the way to the net and the rebound dropped down right to Trevor Zegras, who gave Anaheim their first lead of the game.
Minnesota tied the game up once again in on another power play five minutes into the third period though, with Gibson saving an initial shot, but Joel Eriksson Ek was there to bury a rebound. The Ducks responded yet again though on a power play later, with Troy Terry scoring after a scramble in front.
Despite Anaheim doing a pretty good job keeping Minnesota from sustaining offensive zone time for a few minutes after that, Kirill Kaprizov struck with under three minutes to go, taking a pass from Mats Zuccarello and beating Gibson from a good spot to make it a 4-4 game. The Ducks were under a lot of pressure after that with the majority of the last couple minutes being spent in their end, but they managed to get to overtime.
In the extra frame, the Ducks had their chances, notably a breakaway chance for Troy Terry that was broken up by a backchecking Jared Spurgeon at the last second. Anaheim ended up with a power play as well but couldn’t get a ton going, and the game continued to a shootout.
After Gibson stopped Mats Zuccarello, Trevor Zegras made a great move to deke out Filip Gustavsson to score, putting Anaheim ahead. However, Kirill Kaprizov came in with speed and beat Gibson to tie it as the next shooter, while Troy Terry lost the puck on his attempt, leaving the teams even through two rounds. Both Gibson and Gustavsson came up with saves in the third round but after that, Matthew Boldy beat Gibson five-hole before he could even react. All the pressure was on Ryan Strome, who was stopped by Gustavsson, as the Ducks dropped their fifth straight game.
The Ducks put together a decent effort today, before being outshot pretty badly at even strength in the third period.
Obviously, it’s frustrating as well that the Ducks weren’t able to hold a lead, giving up the late goal to tie it. At the very least, they were generating more chances than they did in shutout loss to Dallas on Thursday, though. It was also good to see the Ducks capitalize twice on the power play, given their limited success on the man advantage this season.
With Isac Lundestrom out six weeks, it would also be good to see Mason McTavish get a larger role up the middle. The Ducks don’t have a ton of producers in their bottom-six, but playing with Max Jones and Brett Leason on the fourth line just doesn’t seem like the best thing his development.
Pavol Regenda also continues to look good when he gets in the lineup. He ended up spending quite a bit of time on the second line with Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano, which was great to see, but he did still play less than 10 minutes.
The Ducks will be right back in action tomorrow afternoon, as they wrap up their road trip against the Winnipeg Jets.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM DECEMBER
Ducks shut out by Stars for fourth straight loss 
Anaheim Ducks Blogger • 
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