William Karlsson lifts Ducks to win in shootout over the Flyers

William Karlsson was a bystander watching his first NHL shootout Tuesday night when he heard a call.

“Wild Bill!”

Instead of choosing Ducks leader Ryan Getzlaf, Coach Bruce Boudreau said he decided on the fly to play the wild card after two of three right-handed Ducks’ shooters failed to beat Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason.

“He’s got some great offensive vision and he can make some plays,” Boudreau said of Karlsson. “I was looking for a left-handed guy, and he was the guy I thought would be the hottest.”

A night after scoring two goals in his second NHL game, the 21-year-old Swedish rookie delivered the Ducks a 4-3 victory (2-1 in the shootout) by burying a shot that closed a season-opening Eastern Conference road trip with a 3-1 record while the Flyers (0-2-2) remained winless.

“You just have to smile about the situation and think you’re going to be the hero,” Karlsson said. “I knew I was going to shoot. I was just trying to find open net. It’s been a good roadie.”

Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen won his third consecutive start and set up Karlsson’s heroics by stopping 39 shots in regulation and overtime, then denying three more Flyers’ attempts in the shootout.

“A little more fun than yesterday,” Andersen said, beaten only by last season’s Hart Trophy finalist Claude Giroux in the shootout. “It doesn’t matter how hard they come at you, just focus on your game.”

Andersen was a surprise starter after Boudreau said at the start of the trip that he planned to give Andersen and rookie John Gibson two starts apiece.

Andersen needed only 12 saves to beat Buffalo on Monday, however, and Boudreau said, “he had so little work, I didn’t think fatigue would be a factor, and then I started thinking, ‘[Philadelphia’s] a tough building to win in.’ I didn’t want Gibson to go in there and have the pressure thrown on him.”

Andersen, Boudreau said, “is giving us a chance to win every game, that’s all I can ask of him. When he needs to make that save, he’s been really good. And he made that save.”

The Ducks established a 2-0 first-period lead on the first goals of the season from rugged forwards Tim Jackman and Devante Smith-Pelly.

Philadelphia rallied on 16 shots in the final 12 minutes of the second period because the Ducks committed three second-period penalties. Flyers defenseman Mark Streit scored on a two-man advantage and Wayne Simmonds produced his fifth goal on a power play.

Getzlaf answered with a highlight-reel backhanded pass to new first-line mate Matt Beleskey, who backhanded in his third goal with 16.8 seconds left in the second.

Jakub Voracek scored on a backhand with 5:20 remaining in the third period to force overtime, and Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg scored on Anaheim’s first shootout attempt.

“We didn’t play very well [in the opener at Pittsburgh], but we’ve gotten better, and learned some lessons along the way,” Getzlaf said with the Ducks returning for their home opener against the Minnesota Wild on Friday.