VIDEO: Ducks Get Early Lead, But Can’t Hold On

By Randy Gonzalez

For the first time in NHL history, these two clubs meet in Anaheim. Two points separate the two teams in the standing coming into tonight’s contest. John Gibson was in net for Anaheim and Maxime Lagace went for Vegas.

Pre-game

Anaheim and Vegas along with the rest of the NHL dedicated the night to Hockey Fights Cancer. The Anaheim Ducks also honored Antoine Vermette for playing his 1000th regular season game a few nights ago.

First Period

The Ducks came out strong the first few minutes of the game getting a scoring opportunity and a couple of shots on goal. Possession was traded off by both teams with Vegas getting more of the shots on goal. After a great hit by Mike Liambas on Brendan Leipsic against the boards, William Carrier showed his displeasure with the hit and they dropped the gloves. A great fight that saw the smaller Mike Liambas take it to William Carrier with lots of right-handed jabs. Both would go off for fighting. Vegas applied pressure in the Anaheim zone causing a couple of turnovers and giving them some grade-A scoring opportunities, but once again John Gibson comes up with some huge saves. After a waved off icing call Brandon Montour regroups behind the Anaheim net and sends a pass to Josh Manson who then takes the puck from the Anaheim zone and skates down the center of the ice into the Vegas zone, fans on a shot with the puck staying close to him and splits the defense and scores five-hole on Maxime Lagace. The goal came at 9:16 with the assist from Brandon Montour. After the goal, Anaheim’s trouble of keeping the shot count down on the defensive end continued. Vegas spent the majority of the play in the Anaheim zone giving the Golden Knights some great opportunities in from of the net. John Gibson would again be up for the challenge and stop all the shots to end the period. At the end of the period, the Golden Knights put up 20 shots on goal to Anaheim’s 7.

Once again Anaheim is unable to stop block shots and clear the zone giving John Gibson a busy opening period. The Golden Knights showed a lot of speed in the neutral zone allowing an easy entrance into the Anaheim zone.

Second Period

The second period started off with both teams trading time in each others zone. Josh Manson once again comes up with a great offensive play by rushing up the ice and just missing his shot five-hole. A minute later Braden McNabb takes an interference penalty against Andrew Cogliano away from the play resulting in a Ducks power play. Right from the start of the power play Hampus Lindholm takes a shot from the point which was directed into the net by Derek Grant to give Anaheim a 2-0 lead. The goal was assisted by Hampus Lindholm and Cam Fowler at 5:59. After the goal, both teams go back and forth in each others zone. The Golden Knights would get their first power play when Mike Liambas takes Brendan Leipsic down for a tripping penalty. Just past a minute into the Vegas power play ex Anaheim Duck David Perron trips Jakob Slifverberg, who would have had a 2 on 1 if not for the trip, which evened both teams up at 4 on 4. The Ducks would get a brief power play but would have trouble getting into the zone. In the last minutes of the period Vegas was once again controlling the play by giving themselves some close scoring chances. With less than 2 minutes to go Sami Vatenen would take an interference penalty against William Carrier. With less than a minute to go the Golden Knights would finally score a power play goal. With 10 seconds remaining Erik Haula would take a hooking penalty giving Anahiem there third power play of the game and almost a full power play to start the third period.

Once again the Ducks could not keep control of the puck. The Ducks allowed 12 shots this period and a goal on the power play. The lack of possession and continuous play in their zone kept the Ducks scrambling to move the puck out of the defensive zone keeping them from applying pressure on Vegas.

Third Period

Ducks would start the period on the power play but were unable to capitalize on the main advantage. Right after the power play the Golden Knights would clear the puck into the Anaheim zone to what looked to be a clear icing call but was waved off with Josh Manson clearing ahead of the Vegas players. Vegas would capitalize with a goal from Colin Miller by slap shot tying the game at 2. After the goal, Mike Liambus would take another penalty giving more momentum to Vegas. John Gibson was forced to play big in net while being showered with shots by Vegas. The Ducks would get a power play when Chris Wagner takes a slash from Johnathan Marchessault allowing the Ducks to finally show a bit of life on the power play and keeping the play in the Vegas zone by getting some great scoring chances but eventually Vegas killed the penalty. After the power play the Ducks seemed to gather some momentum and pressuring the Golden Knights but the come back did not happen as the Golden Knights would score their fourth goal of the game as the puck was tipped in from ex Ducks Prospect Willian Karlsson with two minutes to go in the game. The Ducks would lose the game 4-2.

Analysis

The absence of Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler are starting to become even more difficult and lack of possession is allowing the opposition to continue to put a ridiculous amount of shots on goal against the Anaheim netminders. John Gibson, once again, stood tall in net and played outstanding despite the loss. The Ducks play their final game of their homestand when they face an improved Winnipeg Jets team at Honda Center tomorrow with puck drop at 1:00 PM PT.

 

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November 23rd, 2017

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, ducksnpucks, vegas golden knights