VIDEO: Ducks Downed By Coyotes 3-2 In Shootout

Photo: AP/Christine Cotter

By Mario Ramirez

The Ducks came into this contest with a record of 3-0-0 atop the Pacific division at this early junction of the new season. The Coyotes have stumbled out to a 0-2-0 to start their 2018-19 campaign. The game featured John Gibson (3-0-0) in-goal opposing Arizona’s number one Antti Raanta (0-2-0). Ryan Kesler also made his season debut after a long offseason of speculation about his health status.

1st Period 

In what was a wide-open 1st period the Ducks and Coyotes headed into the first intermission tied at 1-1. Ryan Kesler took his first shift of the season around the 19:00 minute mark much to the delight of the Honda Center crowd. Shortly after at the 18:37 mark Adam Henrique took the games first penalty. The Ducks were able to kill the penalty to stay perfect on the penalty kill on the new season. Henrique came out of the box to create a scoring opportunity. He took the puck to the net, his shot was stopped by Raanta however the rebound deflected high in the air and looked like it was touched by Kiefer Sherwood and in behind the line. The referees waved it off and for some reason did not review it. The Ducks applied pressure on the Arizona goal and at the 14:07 mark Ryan Kesler found the back of the net for his first goal of the season. After a few more scoring chance by both teams, the Ducks picked up their 2nd penalty of the period courtesy of Andrej Sustr’s hooking. The Coyotes were able to score their first goal of the season at 2:27 by Dylan Strome, ending the Ducks perfection on the penalty kill. Gibson and Raanta were very sharp in the first period, Gibson faced 16 shots stopping 15 and Raanta faced 13 stopping 12.

2nd Period

The 2nd period was a rough one for the Ducks. They seemed to slow down a step with the long change in the period. Adam Henrique had a scoring opportunity at the 17:48 mark of the period but was stopped by Raanta. The Ducks earned their first power play of the game when Derek Stepan was called for a trip on Isac Lundestrom at 16:06. The ensuing power play was anything but impressive. The Coyotes Brad Richardson gave them the lead with a shorthanded goal from Michael Grabner at the 14:36 mark of the 2nd period. Gibson came up with a few big saves to keep the Ducks only down one. The Ducks earned their second power play at 7:41 when Clayton Keller went off for interference. The power play came up empty for the 2nd time in as many tries looking none too impressive. A few minutes later at 5:21 Ducks center Ben Street scored his first career NHL goal against Raanta to tie the score at 2-2. Ducks goaltender John Gibson was solid again keeping the Ducks from going down by more than 1 goal. Shots after two periods ended up at 26-19 in the Coyotes favor.

3rd Period

The third period started with a good scoring opportunity for the Ducks. Henrique had a shot stopped by Raanta from in close at 18:39. For the next 6 minutes, the Coyotes seemed to have the better of the play. Creating more scoring opportunities in the Ducks defensive zone. However, Gibson was up to the task and kept the Coyotes off the board to keep it a 2-2 game. Around the 11:43 mark Jakob Silfverberg was called for a hooking penalty putting the Coyotes on the power play. However, Brendan Perlini tripped Isac Lundestrom ending the Coyotes power play. The Ducks failed to score in their abbreviated power play. The rest of the 3rd period went by without a goal by either team. The shots on goal at the end of the third period ended up at 38-24 in favor of the Coyotes. This game like the home opener before it went to overtime.

Overtime and Shootout 

The overtime session started with the Ducks winning the face-off and controlling the puck. The Ducks failed to generate a scoring opportunity before turning the puck over to the Coyotes. The best opportunity for the Ducks in overtime came off the stick of Max Comtois who broke in from the blue line and had a breakaway but was ultimately stopped by Raanta. The overtime session ended the way it began with the score tied at 2-2.

The Ducks elected to shoot first in the shootout. Rickard Rakell took the first shot and was stopped by Raanta. Nick Cousins then put his shot past Gibson to give the Coyotes the lead. Cousins goal ultimately ended up being the game winner as Troy Terry, Clayton Keller, and Jakob Silfverberg would all be stopped.

Analysis

John Gibson was once again the story of the game for the Ducks. He was their best player and kept the Ducks in the game all night. The Coyotes just seemed to be a step faster and created more scoring opportunities. Between regulation and overtime, Gibson stopped 37 of the Coyotes 39 shots. On a night where the Ducks got outplayed by the Coyotes Gibson was able to steal them a point. With some of the Ducks key players seeming to be close to a return starting the season 3-0-1 is a great start.

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October 11th, 2018