Ducks Comeback Bid Falls Short, Lose 3-2 In OT

By: Matthew Garcia

Last night the Anaheim Ducks took on the hometown Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. Anaheim and Edmonton have battled once already this season, in which we saw Anaheim down the Oilers 4-1 in Anaheim. Anaheim entered the game against Edmonton on a three-game winning streak and will be looking to extend that to 4. With a win tonight it will give Anaheim a 2-pt lead over Edmonton and sole possession of 2nd place in the Pacific division. Cam Talbot will get the start for the Oilers and John Gibson will get the nod for Anaheim.

Period 1:

The first period started off with Edmonton coming out of the gates flying getting four of the first five shots. From there Anaheim really began to find their stride as they did well shutting down a very good and very fast Edmonton team. The D pairing of Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm proved to be the best in the first period as Manson had broken up a 2-1 break by Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Milan Lucic. The Ducks best opportunity came off of a weird bounce as Leon Draisaitl attempted to clear the puck up the boards and had the puck go off of forward Andrew Cogliano and to Jakob Silfverberg who was alone in front of the net only to be robbed by Talbot. The Ducks managed to keep Connor McDavid in check as he did not register a single shot on goal through the first 20 minutes of play. Ducks would go into the first intermission tied at zero and leading in the shots department by a total of 8-7.

Period 2:

Gibson would have to come up huge at the beginning of the period as the Oilers won the opening face-off and took off up ice. The rush saw both Lucic and McDavid each register a shot on goal within the first 10 seconds of the period. Anaheim would once again be faced with another scary opportunity as a few minutes later McDavid once again received another golden chance as he was all alone against Gibson in front of the net only to be turned away due to partially fanning on the shot as he was hooked by defenseman Josh Manson, resulting in the first penalty of the game for Anaheim and it would prove to be costly as Drake Caggiula would pot his first career NHL goal off a feed from former Duck forward Patrick Maroon. Hard work would prove to be beneficial for Anaheim as they would later draw a penalty of their own as Adam Larsson would receive a hooking minor. Anaheim would be quick to strike on the power play as Getzlaf would feed Kesler down low and would slam it home past Talbot to tie the game up at one. Shortly after the face-off, Jared Boll would drop the mitts with Milan Lucic each receiving 5-minute majors. The Ducks would once again go shorthanded as Manson would sit for the second time tonight due to another hooking minor. The penalty would prove to be costly once again as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would score immediately after the penalty expired to give Edmonton their second lead of the game 2-1. Edmonton would take the lead to the locker room.

Period 3:

Unlike the first two periods that saw Edmonton dominate, the third period was the Ducks’ best one by far as they were all over Edmonton. Anaheim would finally get the equalizer 9:42 into the final frame as Rickard Rakell would find himself in the right place at the right time as Talbot would leave a huge rebound laying around and would bury the chance. Late in the period Anaheim would receive a power play opportunity as Edmonton was caught with too many men on the ice. The Oilers would get out of the period unharmed but would be serving 1:16 of penalty time going into the OT session.

Overtime:

The Ducks enter the OT period looking for their first victory in the extra session, they would be given a prime opportunity as they would begin the overtime period with a 1:16 of power play time as Edmonton is still serving the bench minor for too many men. During the 1:16 span the Ducks only recorded a single shot on goal and failed to convert on their PP chance. With a little less than 2 minutes remaining in the period the Oilers would convert on a chance as Leon Draisaitl was spotted alone in front of the net and fed a pass from behind Anaheim’s net  to give Edmonton the 3-2 victory. With the OT loss, Anaheim’s three-game winning streak came to an end and had their overtime record pushed to 0-4. Edmonton would take sole possession of second place in the division by a single point.

Final Score: Edmonton-3 Anaheim-2 (OT)

Game Notes/Stats:

The Ducks still haven’t won in overtime going four times in the extra session and also losing in their one shootout attempt.

This was the first game this season where Kesler scored a goal and Anaheim lost. The Ducks had been 6-0-0 when Kesler scores a goal.

What’s Next?

Anaheim will look to get back in the win column tonight as they travel to Calgary, Alberta to take on the Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Anaheim will enter the contest just a single point behind Edmonton and with the opportunity to reclaim second place in the pacific division. Start time is 7:30 PM PT.

Want to be an Editor or Writer? Join The Puck Network!

DucksNPucks is part of The Puck Network, which covers the entire NHL. There are openings to cover your favorite team(s) and earn school credits! If you are interested, then apply by filling out the form here: Join Our Team

December 4, 2016

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, ducksnpucks, edmonton oilers