Ducks vs Golden Knights RECAP: The House Wins Again
The Anaheim Ducks entered tonight at 5-5-3 and faced off against the Vegas Golden Knights tonight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Ducks are coming off a back-to-back set against the San Jose Sharks where they split OT games. While the 2-0-1 record including the Kings game is good, the Ducks absolutely need all the points they can get from those games since points will be harder to come by playing teams like Vegas. The main lineup changes for the Ducks were Ryan Miller and Anthony Stolarz being the goalie tandem in tonight’s game after it was announced that John Gibson had a facial laceration from a collision in practice. Ryan Getzlaf also returned from a short break due to injury replacing Derek Grant.
FIRST PERIOD
Anaheim did not give up a goal or take a penalty in the first minute of the game, so things started very well. Vegas was pressuring the Ducks defense early on in Anaheim's zone making it difficult to make clean exits out of the zone.
The first real scoring chance would come from the Golden Knights. Drink. The Ducks got caught with three men deep as Kevin Shattenkirk tried to stand up in the neutral zone leading to a breakaway by William Carrier. Luckily, Miller was able to make the stop to keep this game tied. Big stop by Miller who is looking to move up the all-time wins list.
Five minutes into the game, Anaheim would be the first to take a penalty in this contest as David Backes got caught for interference. Carrying the 5th-best penalty kill in the league entering tonight's game, the Ducks did well to limit shots toward the outside areas of the zone and killed off the penalty fairly easily. Vegas now stands 0-3 on the powerplay against the Ducks this season.
However, Vegas would come away with the early lead. Mark Stone drew two defenders' attention and sent Chandler Stephenson flying down the wing in behind the defense. Stephenson does a nice deke and slipped a backhand between the pads of Miller. Vegas up 1-0 early in this contest.
On a broken play with multiple people down on the ice, Max Pacioretty went on the attack with Stone. After a beautiful passing sequence between the two, Pacioretty's shot was robbed by Miller's glove. Pacioretty and Stone have a combined 13 points in the last three games, so this was another huge save by Miller.
The Golden Knights would quickly get another tally on the board. William Karlsson sent a cross-ice pass that gets slightly deflected by Jonathan Marchessault and landed on Reilly Smith's stick. He sent a pass toward Marchessault at the top of the crease and it bounced off of his skate straight into the net. Vegas increased their lead to 2-0.
On the ensuing face-off, Ryan Reaves and Nicholas Deslauriers drop the gloves to fight. While I don't know the analytics behind fights in the NHL, Deslauriers shorter wingspan didn't do him any favors. He was able to land a couple of shots, but they ultimately fell to the ice and were sent off for the rest of the period. Thank you for the grit, Nic.
60 seconds left, what could possibly happen? Just another defensive breakdown leading to another huge save by Miller to end the period. Overall, this period was as expected. Vegas generated tons of chances, many times with an outnumbered attack.
SECOND PERIOD
The Golden Knights would get things going once again early in the period. Troy Terry and Cam Flowler lose a puck battle in the neutral zone to Cody Glass. Glass hands it off to Alex Tuch as Jani Hakanpaa loses an edge. Tuch rushed in and elevated a backhander over the shoulder of Miller. Just like that, Vegas took a commanding 3-0 lead.
The Ducks would finally show some life. After recovering a turnover, Ben Hutton sent a stretch pass from deep to Max Comtois. Rickard Rakell drove toward the net drawing a couple of Vegas defenders with him, leaving Isac Lundestrom alone down the slot. Comtois passed the puck to Lundestrom who sends a quick wrist shot over the glove of Marc-Andre Fleury for his second goal in two games. Ducks get on the board, 3-1. Great heads up play by Comtois to wait for the trailing skater. High IQ play from the youngster.
"Marc-Andre Fleury with the Samurai Swat!" - John Ahlers
All of a sudden, the Ducks started to find a groove and had some of the best efforts we've seen quite some time. They were moving their feet, winning the puck battles, backchecking, and sending shots to the net. The increase in their effort led to three icings in a couple of minutes and a few high-quality chances. Then, Vegas came back and got another on the board. Tuch entered the zone with speed, dropped a pass to Nicolas Roy who sends a knuckle puck between the arm and body of Miller from nearly the blueline. Vegas up 4-1 and what a heartbreak for the Ducks after a strong effort in this second frame.
THIRD PERIOD
The Ducks showed some life early on. Hampus Lindholm sent a quick cross-ice pass to Shattenkirk who ripped a one-timer on net. Fleury kicked the rebound to the boards and straight to Terry who used his skate to control the puck. He patiently moved toward a better shooting angle and sent a shot top corner. What a shot by Terry.
Anaheim would get another quick one to make this a one-goal game. After a dump by Getzlaf, Terry got in on the forecheck and forced a turnover by Nicholas Hague. Terry sent a soft pass toward the front of the net and Adam Henrique buried it between the pads of Fleury. All of a sudden, the Ducks were within striking distance.
The momentum kept growing as Roy would go off for high sticking. The Ducks go on a powerplay for the second time this game, but they weren't able to get anything going until the end. Getzlaf had two defenders fighting him for the puck, he sent the puck back to the line to Shattenkirk who quickly passed to a wide-open Rakell. Rakell ripped a shot toward the net where Henrique had set a screen with Jakob Silfverberg and Getzlaf driving toward the net. Getzlaf got his stick on the shot and tapped it in to tie the game 4-4 with 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
FUN NOTE: The boss man himself, Jake Rudolph, messaged me making sure I had the recap for tonight's game. The Ducks were down 4-2 and within a few minutes were tied. Thank you to our fearless leader as our text shift the tides of momentum. Probably (Ed Note: It did. I deserve all the credit. Shower me with praise!).
The Ducks started to get a little hemmed in and had to clear pucks just to get some line changes multiple times. Vegas enters the zone and Carrier sent a shot toward the net. The shot goes off Cam Fowler's skate and off of Miller's right pad sending the rebound straight to Zach Whitecloud. Whitecloud scores with the wide-open net. Vegas regained their lead, 5-4.
Ryan Miller was pulled with just under two minutes left, but to no avail. The comeback falls short as Whitecloud's late tally stood as the game-winner.
QUICK OBSERVATIONS
Obviously scoring 4 goals against the Golden Knights is a good thing and considering Vegas normally wins by multiple goals in these contests, the comeback was a big surprise.
The youth are still leading the way. Troy Terry now has 4 points in 3 games and is skating with so much confidence right now. Comtois and Lundestrom continue to contribute as well.
The Golden Knights have tons of offensive weapons, but the Ducks struggled with Roy, Whitecloud, and Carrier.
The Vegas Golden Knights improve to 13-2-0 against the Ducks all-time since entering the league. It's safe to say that Vegas has not been kind to them whatsoever.
Ryan Miller had a rough game. He had three highway robbery-type glove saves, but also let in a couple of goals that he really needed to stop. It was unfortunate.
The Ducks and Golden Knights run it back on Thursday starting at 7 pm, although that game is now in doubt with there being additional Covid positive tests on the Golden Knights.