VIDEO: Ducks Extend Win Streak To Four Games

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks started their western Canadian road trip in Calgary. John Gibson went in net against Mike Smith for the Flames.

First Period

The Flames came out with some energy in the first period and were awarded the only power play in the period. Unfortunately for them, Andrew Cogliano stole the puck and scored a shorthanded goal to give the Ducks the early 1-0 lead. Cogliano tied Paul Kariya for the franchise record of 16 shorthanded goals. Flames outshot the Ducks 11-5 in the opening period but trailed 1-0.

Second Period

About nine minutes into the middle frame, Ondrej Kase made it a 2-0 Ducks lead when he pulled a spin-o-rama move sending the puck five-hole past Smith with a backhand shot. Towards the end of the period, Hampus Lindholm unloaded a bomb of a slap shot to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead at the end of two periods. Flames did outshoot the Ducks again 12-6.

Third Period

The Ducks held the Flames down for the final 20 minutes and only allowed six shots on goal against. Francois Beauchemin got in on the scoring with his own past from inside the blue line to give the Ducks a 4-0 lead. There was a late penalty on Anaheim, but Gibson stood stall not allowing a single goal in the game.

Analysis

The final scoreboard doesn’t tell the complete story of this game. The Ducks were outplayed in the first period and were fortunate to come out of it ahead due to the great individual effort by Cogliano. Anaheim didn’t have much of a forecheck in this game, but they were opportunistic scoring at key moments. The story still remains the strong play of Gibson, especially in the past few weeks. He earned his third shutout in his last 16 games and has a 1.79 GAA and .943 SV% in that time span. The Ducks look to continue their winning ways in Winnipeg on Friday.

For more on Gibson’s play and analysis of this game check out our post-game show by clicking below! 

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March 22nd, 2018