Ducks stop losing streak at 11, roll to shutout victory at Arizona
Trevor Zegras scored another lacrosse-style goal, Isac Lundestrom had two goals and an assist, Anthony Stolarz made 22 saves for his third shutout of the season and the Ducks snapped an 11-game losing streak with a 5-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night.
Stolarz, in his first start since March 12 after missing eight games, had his sixth shutout in 56 career games.
Cam Fowler had a goal and an assist, and Gerry Mayhew also scored for the Ducks, who had three goals in the first 10 minutes. The Ducks had only three points since their last victory March 6.
“It’s not that black cloud,” coach Dallas Eakins said of ending the skid. “We talk all the time here about winning today. Streaks are great for fans and you (media) guys to talk about. The reality is, games in the past have zero to do with today.“
Cam Fowler had a goal and an assist, and Gerry Mayhew also scored for the Ducks, who had three goals in the first 10 minutes. The Ducks had only three points since their last victory March 6. The Coyotes, who have lost seven of eight, played their first game without leading scorer Clayton Keller, who suffered a fractured femur when he crashed into the boards late in a 5-2 victory over San Jose on Wednesday. He’ll miss the rest of the season.
The game got chippy late, when each team was given two penalties for fighting. The game was stopped with 5:37 remaining when blood was scraped off the ice after Coyotes forward Jay Beagle knocked Troy Terry to the ice in a fight in front of the Coyotes’ net. Both were assessed fighting penalties, and Beagle was given a two-minute penalty for cross checking and a game misconduct at 14:23. The Coyotes’ Phil Kessel also received a game misconduct.
“I think we need to stand up for ourselves, and I like what he did,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said of Beagle’s reaction. “There’s a whack at our goalie, he had a presence there, and then he got jumped, and he answered the bell. That’s good stuff in my opinion.”
Terry, who had two assists, received medical attention in the arena and had cuts and bruises above and below his left eye when he returned to the locker room after the game.
“The fact that he was down and not engaged in a fight and you are going to hit him three more times,” Terry’s linemate Zegras said. “I’m embarrassed for who that was. I’m not going to say his name.
“You don’t punch a guy when he is down, especially a 31-goal scorer in the NHL who is a superstar. I think it’s a bad look for the league. For the player who did it, it’s humiliating, and I think he should be punished.”
Josef Korenar had 26 saves for Arizona after replacing starter Karel Vejmelka at 9:42 of the first period after Zegras’ goal gave the Ducks a 3-0 lead.
Zegras picked up the puck behind the Coyotes net to Vejmelka’s left and skated around to the other side, where he held the puck on his blade and backhanded it in from chest level.
It’s the second time the 21-year-old rookie has scored on a lacrosse-style goal, with Zegras also pulling off the feat against Montreal on Jan. 27.
“We’ll take goals anyway we can get them,” Eakins said. “There is a time for those goals, and that was the time for it. That was a big goal. It allowed us to play with some confidence.”
The Ducks scored on three of their nine shots against Vejmelka, who was making his seventh straight start. That outburst came after Anaheim had scored just 21 goals during their skid — and never more than three in one game.
Lundestrom skated in alone after a defensive breakdown and flipped a wrist shot from the left circle that got between Vejmelka’s glove and his right pad for a 1-0 lead at 3:38 of the first period.
Mayhew’s rising slap shot from the top of the left circle tipped off Vejmelka’s glove for a 2-0 lead at 7:41. Zegras’ clever goal made it 3-0 two minutes later.
Stolarz stopped the Coyotes’ best chance, when Michael Carcone skated in alone eight minutes in.
“We had a few opportunities, and we needed to bury those,” Tourigny said. “If we bury one or two of those we’re coming back into the game and it’s a different story from there.”
Fowler gave the Ducks a 4-0 lead at 5:44 of the second period when he took drop pass from Lundestrom on a 3-on-1 break and beat Korenar on the far side, and Lundestrom scored his second at 7:25 of the third.
“There is a little bit of hangover from that (Keller injury), for sure, emotionally,” Tourigny said. “There is an adjustment we need to make as a team. We’ll need to navigate through that and get better every day.”
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