VIDEO: Canes Win 2-1 In Goaltending Battle
By Aaron Francis
The Ducks came into the game Thursday night riding a 8-game winning streak. They last faced off against the highly rated Washington Capitals and would have their second big test of the week as the (12-2-0) Carolina Hurricanes entered the Honda Center. A familiar face was in net for the Hurricanes as Frederik Andersen would get the start in goal against his former teammate John Gibson.
First Period
Despite early chances, Anaheim would find themselves even with Carolina at the end of one period of play. Anaheim had control of the play to start the game and were playing with the puck in the offensive zone. A Hurricanes turnover landed on the stick of Nicolas Deslauriers who had his shot gloved down by Andersen. The Hurricanes would break the ice first however as a cross ice pass from Martin Necas made it to the stick of Ethan Bear who had come down from the right point to score, 1-0 Carolina.
Later in the period Troy Terry would go on a break passing the puck across to Adam Henrique who fired a shot that was saved. The rebound lay in front of the net and Terry came back to tap it home, 1-1 tie. Anaheim continued the pressure and had 3 sequential shots from Ryan Getzlaf, Jamie Drysdale, and Troy Terry all be stopped by Frederik Andersen. Carolina would get a few opportunities including a late wraparound attempt by Nino Niederreiter that was stopped by John Gibson. Shots were 17-11 Anaheim at the end of the period.
Second Period
The middle frame would end as it began deadlocked at 1-1, as special teams play made up the majority of the period. The Hurricanes came out very strong to start the period with an extended sequence of possession in the Ducks zone. John Gibson needed to come up with several big saves early. Sonny Milano put a backhand shot on Andersen and Trevor Zegras just missed firing the rebound into the open net.
Then the penalties began to pile up as Anaheim had two opportunities with the extra man. Josh Manson and Andrei Svechnikov would both go to the box after a net front battle. Then the Ducks would take another penalty allowing for a 4-on-3 Carolina Power Play. After killing off the 4-on-3, Jaccob Slavin had the best chance on the regular man advantage as his shot was kicked out by a toe save from John Gibson. Shots were 12-9 Carolina at the end of the period.
Third Period
The Ducks came up short this period and were not able to get another goal past Frederik Andersen. The Hurricanes had a huge opportunity after rookie Seth Jarvis was awarded a penalty shot. On his attempt he tried to get Gibson to move but failed to fake out the Anaheim goalie. Jamie Drysdale made a great block down low to stop a cross-ice pass for Carolina. A defensive zone error would lead to the go ahead goal as Kevin Shattenkirk was stripped of the puck and down low Jarvis would pot the goal, 2-1 Carolina.
Down the stretch Anaheim would get several good looks on Andersen but could not find a way to even up the game. With under 2 minutes to play Anaheim would pull Gibson for the extra attacker. Carolina had a few opportunities to hit the empty net including a post shot and a shot from Frederik Andersen that was just barely tipped wide of the net by Cam Fowler. In the end the score would hold up and the Hurricanes would take the game 2-1. Shots were 8-6 Carolina in the third for a game total of 32-31 shots in favor of Anaheim.
Analysis
Any loss should be an opportunity for improvement. That being said the Ducks have just come off a long win streak and continued to apply the same play in the effort against the Hurricanes. All it took for the Ducks to fall behind in this game were a few defensive lapses which is expected when playing one of the top teams in the NHL.
If the Ducks had been able to break through on one of their power play attempts, this game would have looked much different. The play of Gibson was excellent as expected and Terry extended his point streak to 16 games. Overall Anaheim put forth a good effort against Carolina and can work on cleaning up the few mistakes they made ahead of their next outing.
Team Stats/Notes:
Terry scored the lone goal, which extended his point streak to 16 games. He leads the Ducks in scoring with 12 goals.
What’s Next?
The Ducks hit the road and will take on Nashville Monday at 5PM PT.
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November 19th, 2021