Ryan Getzlaf’s fluke goal lifts Ducks to 2-0 series lead over Calgary
If any further evidence was needed that this streak has no end, no sympathy and no regard for the hockey karma, it arrived late Saturday night.
The Ducks were completely outplayed by the Calgary Flames during the latter part of Game 2 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
They saw their two-goal lead disappear and couldn’t string two passes together.
They were missing yet another defenseman and played four defensemen with a combined 10 games of playoff experience.
Yet they pulled out a 3-2 win at Honda Center on a fluke goal by Ryan Getzlaf with 4:46 to go, on the power play, to take a 2-0 series lead going back to Calgary.
Getzlaf’s centering pass bounced off Calgary wing Lance Bouma’s skate, popped high into the air and into the net.
“Lucky,” Getzlaf said of his goal. “We worked hard for it. Our guys worked hard for that faceoff to get the puck back. Sometimes luck’s on your side and I thought we did a good job with our composure. But overall, we got outplayed tonight.”
The Ducks held on for their 29th straight win at home game against Calgary, a run that started in 2006 and is made up of 22 regular season games and seven playoff games.
They did it without Sami Vatanen, scratched with a day-to-day upper-body injury. And they did it after they committed 21 giveaways and lost their cool in the second period.
“That was kind of an ugly period for us,” Getzlaf said. “Obviously, they came out with an attitude in that second period that they were going to trying to push us and play. They did a great job. Got us off our game a little bit.”
In addition to two goals allowed, the Ducks committed four minor penalties, two by Kevin Bieksa. Calgary was able to get Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler off the ice for goalie interference and roughing penalties, respectively.
“I thought we did a good job after the second period, coming in here and regrouping and not getting too down” Rickard Rakell said. “We’ve got to keep playing. We’ve got to go back to what we do.”
The Flames were ignited by Mikael Backlund’s shorthanded breakaway goal with 1:36 left in the first period. Backlund took off on a Ducks turnover, beat goalie John Gibson with a forehand deke and banged the glass in an exuberant celebration.
The momentum carried over for Calgary, which killed a double-minor, high-sticking penalty over the first and second periods and tied the score, 2-2, with Sean Monahan’s second goal of the series. Monahan’s one-timer at 7:01 completed pretty puck movement on the power play.
Calgary thought it took a 3-2 lead on a goal-mouth scramble that saw the puck cross the line, but the initial no-goal was upheld because of goalie interference on Gibson.
Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle before the game stuck to his message that the pressure was on his team at home. If that was the case, the Ducks alleviated some of it early with two goals on six shots in the first seven minutes.
Rakell put in a wraparound for a 2-0 lead after the puck ramped off the Flames’ Michael Stone behind the net. Jakob Silfverberg got the sellout crowd roaring 3:21 into the game with a wrist shot from the outer edge of the right circle.
Vatanen skated in line rushes in pregame warmups and his injury is believed to be a lingering issue. Korbinian Holzer made his NHL playoff debut, along with Nick Ritchie. Ondrej Kase was reassigned.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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