VIDEO: Ducks Put Up A Fight, But Come Up Short

Photo: USA Today

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks hosted the Colorado Avalanche with a very depleted team. John Gibson returned in net, but Anaheim was without Troy Terry, Cam Fowler, and Josh Manson, who were in COVID protocol. Sonny Milano, Josh Mahura, and Adam Henrique were out with injuries.

Recap

An early power play was awarded to the Avs and the Ducks were able to kill it off. The Ducks then had a power play of their own, but they didn’t convert.

Kevin Shattenkirk took a big hit from Kurtis MacDermid. Nicolas Deslauriers then scrapped with MacDermid as a result.

The Ducks got another power play before the period ended, but again the Ducks didn’t score with the extra man.

In the second period, both teams had a power play chance and neither converted.

Avs broke the scoreless game at the end of the period. Samuel Girard took a shot that bounced off the ice and went in between the arm and body of Gibson.

In the third period, the Avs appeared to take a 2-0 lead. Gibson made an initial save and he went to cover the puck that trickled behind him toward the net. Mikko Rantanen knocked the puck loose and into the net. The refs deemed it was no goal as they blew the whistle when Gibson covered the puck. A scrum ensued afterward and the teams played 4-on-4 for two minutes.

The Ducks made a push to try to tie the game. Isac Lundestrom and Sam Steel had some good looks, but Anaheim still trailed by one. With a few minutes to go, they pulled Gibson for the extra attacker. Nazem Kadri would score an empty net goal to put this one away by a 2-0 final.

Analysis (Stats by Natural Stat Trick):

Overall, not a bad effort by the shorthanded Ducks. Anaheim had 34 shots on goal in 55 attempts as opposed to 28 shots on goal in 60 attempts for the Avs. The puck possession numbers for the game were fairly even, with a slight edge to the Ducks in the first and third periods.

Gibson looked solid in his return after being out for a week on the COVID protocol. The only goal he allowed was by a shot that took a weird bounce off the ice.

The Ducks did have four power play chances, but couldn’t get much of anything going. They put up 6 shots with the extra man. There might have been a different outcome to this game if they could have scored just one time in those four chances.

What’s Next?

The Ducks host the Tampa Bay Lightning Friday at 7 PM PT.

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January 19th, 2022