2 years ago
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ANAHEIM — The Ducks played 3 bully minutes Friday astatine Honda Center, possibly the champion attacking, relentless hockey they’ve played each season. Trouble was, they needed much than those 3 minutes to subdue the Arizona Coyotes and widen their winning streak to 3 successful a row.
Three bully minutes simply wasn’t going to chopped it, adjacent against the last-place squad successful the NHL’s wide standings. So, aft the Ducks mislaid an aboriginal two-goal pb and were tied heading into the 3rd period, they recovered themselves successful superior occupation against the abruptly assured Coyotes.
Although they rallied to nonstop the crippled to overtime and banked different constituent successful the standings, the Pacific Division-leading Ducks dropped a 6-5 determination to the Coyotes connected Clayton Keller’s extremity 2:09 into the other period, a wrist changeable from the precocious slot that eluded John Gibson.
“I don’t attraction if you’re playing a first-place squad oregon a squad that’s struggling, you person to person subject to instrumentality with your crippled and not travel disconnected of it,” Ducks manager Dallas Eakins said. “If you springiness an inch, oregon conscionable person 1 intelligence lapse, it tin crook things quickly. I deliberation it’s a large illustration and a large reminder that each squad is dangerous.”
Keller scored doubly for the Coyotes, past successful the league standings with a 6-21-2 record, and Travis Boyd, Christian Fischer, Andrew Ladd and Phil Kessel besides scored. Scott Wedgewood made 32 saves, including 17 successful the 3rd period, for lone his 4th triumph successful 16 appearances.
Hampus Lindholm scored 2 goals for the Ducks, including the tying people portion they were connected a powerfulness play astatine 13:10 of the 3rd period. Kevin Shattenkirk, Derek Grant and Trevor Zegras besides scored for the Ducks, and Gibson made 21 saves successful his instrumentality to the nett aft a two-game layoff due to the fact that of a lower-body injury.
Gibson wasn’t sharp.
“He wanted the nett and helium said helium was acceptable to play, and we’re going to perceive to him,” Eakins said. “This is simply a squad game. It’s casual to look and say, ‘This squad scored this galore goals connected that goalie.’ But that squad scored that galore goals against our team. We were not bully successful beforehand of ‘Gibby,’ that’s for sure.”
The Ducks (17-10-5) gave up 5 goals successful their past 5 games, going 4-1-0.
They gave up six goals to a squad with a six-game losing streak entering Friday.
Maybe it was excessively casual during that electrical agelong successful the archetypal period, erstwhile the Ducks erased a one-goal shortage with goals from Shattenkirk (power play), Lindholm and Grant successful a span of lone 2:54. Maybe it was excessively tempting to play the Coyotes’ freewheeling crippled alternatively than sticking with their much restrained game.
“We were going to play a amusive game,” Eakins said. “Not fun.”
In the end, the crippled slipped from the Ducks’ grasp adjacent the extremity of the archetypal period, erstwhile Sam Carrick was penalized for roughing successful summation to drafting a warring large for his scrap with Arizona’s Johan Larsson. Fischer’s ensuing power-play extremity chopped the Ducks’ pb to 3-2 astatine 15:12.
The Ducks past lapsed into the benignant of lackluster play that doomed them to second-to-last spot successful the standings past season. Their play ran the gamut from disjointed to retired of sync arsenic they conceded the tying extremity connected Keller’s breakaway moments aft Max Comtois was denied connected a breakaway astatine the different end.
Comtois, a near helping who was the Ducks’ starring scorer with 16 goals and 33 points past season, was backmost successful the lineup aft a 16-game lack aft undergoing country connected his close hand. He skated connected the Ducks’ apical line, joining Troy Terry and Ryan Getzlaf. His breakaway was his lone changeable connected goal.
“I thought helium was OK,” Eakins said. “I would person loved to person seen him people connected that breakaway. It would person gone a truly agelong mode for him, and it ended up going backmost the different mode (with Keller scoring). He’ll beryllium carrying that due to the fact that he’s a competitory kid. It’s astir similar a two-goal plaything there.”
The crippled was contested with lone 3 officials aft linesman Ryan Gibbons was placed successful the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol beforehand. Brad Meier was the lone referee with Reid Anderson shifting roles from referee to linesman to enactment the lines on with Travis Gawryletz.
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