(Carter Rowney, left, in his first game back for the Anaheim Ducks scores a third-period goal Tuesday night against Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Louis Domingue at Amalie Arena. Anaheim’s Brian Gibbons, right, watches the puck fly into the net. Photo courtesy of Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images.)
What a great upset victory for the Anaheim Ducks !! And what a terrific game for backup goalie Ryan Miller. The 38-year-old net minder led the way by stopping 34-of-35 shots on goal, as the Ducks defeated one of the NHL’s top teams, the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1, Tuesday in front of a crowd of 19,092 at Amalie Arena.
“It was really kind of a gutsy win,” Miller said after the game. “I thought we played the way we needed to play against these guys. They’ve been scoring a lot of goals, and we were in and around the areas we needed to be, and we made a difference for ourselves in the third period. It was great.”
In that third period, the Ducks entered tied, 1-1, before breaking the game wide open by scoring a pair of goals within a minute of each other. The visitors never looked back, as Anaheim held on for the well-earned road victory.
The first of those two goals came on a power play with a little more than 15 minutes remaining in regulation when Nick Ritchie batted a rebound out of mid air and into the net. That rebound resulted after a Pontus Åberg slap shot ricocheted off of the back wall, causing the puck to fly in front of the crease. Ritchie’s goal put the Ducks ahead, 2-1. Then, 48 seconds later, Carter Rowney, in his return to the lineup after missing seemingly forever with a so-called “upper body injury”, increased Anaheim’s lead to 3-1 with a nifty backhander.
Josh Manson had opened the scoring in the second period with his second goal of the season. Here is the replay:
(Footage courtesy of NHL.)
However, Tampa Bay tied the score at 1-1 with a goal from Brayden Point, his 18th of the season. Dude is on fire. After that, the game belonged to the men from SoCal.
With the win, Anaheim returned to above .500 with a record of 11-10-5 for 27 points after 26 games. The Ducks remain tied with the Vegas Golden Knights which also won Tuesday, as both teams share a winning percentage of .519. However, Vegas owns the first tiebreaker with more ROWs, 12-9. So, Anaheim continues to cling to the no. 4 seed in the pathetically weak Pacific Division as none of the four teams below the Ducks in the standings hold winning records.
As for Tampa Bay, the Lightning entered the game tied with the Nashville Predators for the league’s best record, but each of those two squads fell Tuesday night in regulation. As a result, the Buffalo Sabres with their own victory commandeered the NHL’s top spot.
Finally, this hockey writer must give credit where it is due. After my scathing rebuke of Andrej Sustr, the Ducks scratched the big 6′-7″ stay-at-home defensive defenseman in favor of playing rookie Andy Welinski. That was a great move, and Rabbi Rabbs approves.
Hmm, I wonder if that move was made after Anaheim’s front office perhaps read my recap of the Ducks’ prior game in Nashville, Predators Broadside Streaking Ducks, in which I wrote, “the Ducks recalled terrible Andrej Sustr who I had warned about … and guess what happened next? Sustr was nowhere to be found on the Predators’ first goal when not one, but two Nashville players were left all alone in front of Anaheim’s net, and were permitted several whacks each at the puck.”
I bet I shall never know.
The Ducks are 1-1 on their five-game road trip which continues Wednesday night against the Florida Panthers. Until then, Let’s Go Ducks !!
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