VIDEO: Ducks Rally, But Come Up Short

By Randy Gonzalez

The Ducks came into River Gila Arena trying to win for a second time in two nights, after a shutout of the Los Angels Kings the night before after an outstanding performance from John Gibson. The Ducks would need to try and find some offense if they want to get some wins behind their defense that’s been on and off the past few games. Jonathan Bernier started for Anaheim and Mike Smith went for Arizona.

First Period:

The Coyotes started the scoring early with two goals. The first goal was from Christian Dvorak when he split the Defense and would score on a wrist shot; assisted by Shane Doan and Brendan Perlini. The second goal was scored by Jakob Chychrun which was assisted by Ryan White and Tobias Rieder just a couple minutes later. Randy Carlyle was forced to use the team’s timeout before the 5-minute mark. Sami Vatanen would draw the first penalty of the game when he cross-checked Alexander Burmistrov repeatedly out of frustration after taking a hard hit. With 20 seconds left in the Anaheim penalty, Shan Doan draws a penalty for hooking Ryan Getzlaf. Anaheim would then get an abbreviated power play which produced some scoring chances. With just over 5 minutes to go in the period, the Coyotes scored a goal that was waved off due to Martin Hanzel making a distinctive kicking motion. The goal was reviewed and the call was overturned when the puck clearly went off of Sami Vatanen skate and in five-hole on Jonathan Bernier for a good goal. The goal was credited to Radim Vrbata from Max Domi and Luke Schenn. The period ended with some physical play on the Ducks side and a frustrating end to the 1ST period. Shots on goal were 10-6 Anaheim.

Second Period:

At the start of the Second John Gibson would take over the net in relief of Jonathan Bernier which would ignite the teams play. They came out charging the net, hitting anyone with a Coyotes jersey on. The Ducks would finally break through with a goal from a point shot by Josh Manson on a great effort by Ondrej Kase to enter the zone and cycle the pass back to Nick Richie then to Josh Manson for the Shot to the net with Ryan Getzlaf screening Goaltender Mike Smith. He would then get a tip-in and be credited with the Ducks goal. The Ducks would continue to press and end the period with 15 shots on goal.

Third Period:

The Ducks opened the period strong throwing everything to the opponents net. Mike Smith would take a head-to-head hit when Jakob Silfverberg was pushed into him my Conner Murphy. About five minutes into the period Josh Manson would be called for cross checking Tobias Rieder behind the ducks net. The Coyotes pulled goaltender Mike Smith for goaltender Marek Langhamer, making his NHL debut. The Coyotes would start crowding the neutral zone making it hard for the Ducks to enter the Coyotes zone. Halfway into the period, Andrew Cogliano would take a tripping penalty against Josh Jooris in front of the Ducks net. The Ducks would kill the penalty. A minute after the penalty expired the Coyotes would take a penalty when Jordan Martinook high-sticked Cam Fowler. The Coyotes would kill the penalty after the Ducks kept the Coyotes in their zone for half of the power play. With a minute and a half left to go Anaheim would pull Gibson to get the extra attacker. Ryan Getzlaf would score his second goal of the night. Arizona would challenge the goal for offsides; the goal would stand. This would set up a crazy last 30 seconds. Both teams would split scoring chances with Arizona getting a breakaway right off the face off then Gibson would make a huge save. The Ducks would rush up the ice and Vatanen would get denied with a sprawling save by Marek Langhamer resulting in the end of the game. The Ducks drop this game 3-2 in Arizona. Final shots on goal were 36-20 Anaheim. The Ducks would also win the face-off battle at 59.6%,

Game Notes

Corey Tropp played his first game with the Anaheim Ducks.
Marek Langhamer would make his NHL debut in relief of Mike Smith.
Ryan Getzlaf had a two goal night.

3 Stars Of The Night

1st Christian Dvorak (ARI)
2nd Ryan Getzlaf (ANA)
3rd Jacob Chychrun (ARI)

What’s Next?

Up next the Ducks face the Boston Bruins (30-23-6) at Honda Center. In their last meeting, the Ducks beat Boston 4-3 in Boston with a game-winning goal from Rickard Rakell back on December 15.

Click below to watch video highlights of the game.

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February 21th, 2017

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, arizona coyotes, ducksnpucks