Ducks Goal of the Week: Troy Terry helps Ryan Getzlaf pass Teemu Selanne
Welcome to our newest Crash The Pond column! In Goal of the Week, one of the staff from the site will break down, in their opinion, the most notable goal scored by the Anaheim Ducks from the previous week of games. The goal can be notable for any number of reasons: it could be a beautiful goal with a million dekes, it could be a goal at a critical point in the hockey game, it could be a milestone goal.
Make sure to come back every week to get an eyeful of the best goals the Ducks have put up on the highlight reels!
It feels wrong for this week’s goal to be anything other than Troy Terry’s breakaway tally that gave Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf the all-time franchise scoring lead. Not only did the goal give Getzlaf the record, but it was creatively executed with top-tier skill from both the captain and Troy Terry. Without further ado, let’s break this down, shall we?
With 10 minutes remaining in regulation in a 2-2 game, the Ducks decided to stretch the ice to try and catch the Montreal Canadiens off guard in transition. Typically, in a tie game, most teams would be focusing more on short passes and puck support to skate the puck out of the zone. Clearly, that’s what the Habs were expecting, as they had just one forechecker in the offensive zone with Cam Fowler holding the puck behind his own net.
Sure, there’s plenty of risk in doing this, as one wrong pass can be easily intercepted and immediately give the Canadiens plenty of open ice to bring the puck back for a scoring chance. Fortunately, Fowler saw that the Canadiens were not expecting this and that Getzlaf had just one skater defending him. Given Getzlaf’s skill and his size advantage, Fowler correctly guessed that his captain could handle it. For you football fans, think of it like a quarterback recognizing a size/skill advantage for their wide receiver versus a defense’s cornerback and throwing it to them, betting that their receiver will beat the coverage.
The pass rocketed up to Getzlaf standing near the opposing blue line with plenty of open ice since the Canadiens were more concerned with covering individual players in the natural zone rather than shutting down long passing lanes. In typical Getzlaf fashion, a split second before the puck reached him, Getzlaf saw Terry streaking up the middle of the ice with absolutely no one in front of him. A no-look touch pass from the captain that had the perfect lead time for Terry to outskate his defender but not go far enough to allow Sam Montembeault to come out of his net, sent him on a breakaway.
From there, Terry deked right, which got Montembeault to open up and throw his left pad out. This made the Habs goaltender completely helpless and immobile to push off for any move cutting back the other way. Terry saw this immediately, cut back to his left, and slid the puck into the open net for his fifth goal in six games, and giving his captain the franchise scoring record.
Perhaps the best part of this goal was the celebration that followed. Terry very quickly turned the attention of the celebration from him to Getzlaf as the moment began to sink in for the players and the fans in the building. Terry came out of the celebration pile to summon the rest of his team off the bench in order to celebrate the historic milestone with their captain.
Fun fact: the Ducks had to request permission from the league and inform the referees in order to have the rest of the team come off the bench and onto the ice to celebrate. Normally, there would be a penalty assessed for anyone not already on the ice to celebrate a goal. However, in instances like significant milestones for players, the team will usually ask permission ahead of time. This happened for Selanne’s 600th goal a few years ago, as well as several other milestones over the years.
This goal will now live in the Ducks highlight reels forever. It was a perfect encapsulation of Ryan Getzlaf: a playmaker with incredible vision and hockey IQ that makes everyone on the ice around him better. What more fitting way to become the Anaheim Ducks’ all-time scoring leader with an outstanding assist from a player who has made his entire career off of some of the best setup and passing players a fan will ever see?