(The Anaheim Ducks celebrate after defeating the Florida Panthers, 3-2, Wednesday at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL. Photo courtesy of Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images.)
For the first time since the 2009-10 season, the Anaheim Ducks traveled to Florida, and beat both of that state’s NHL teams. After upsetting the Lightning in Tampa Tuesday, the Ducks on Wednesday completed their long-overdue sweep of the Sunshine State by winning a thriller, 3-2, over the Florida Panthers before a reported crowd of 9,078 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL.
The official attendance was reported at 47 percent capacity, but the television broadcast captured seating sections with far less occupancy. Have a look at this photo I snapped of my TV screen during the action:
(I count way more empty chairs than ones occupied. Honda Center is not nearly that bad, even on weeknights. Photo courtesy of Fox Sports.)
What a great Ducks comeback victory Wednesday capped off by their winning goal coming with only 1:28 remaining in regulation. Anaheim scored early and late, as Josh Manson put the first goal on the scoreboard after only 15 seconds into the game. I was not yet even sitting comfortably in my sofa when I jumped up to celebrate after that early strike. In fact, it was the fastest goal in Anaheim history since Paul Kariya scored in only eight seconds into a game in Colorado during the 1996-97 season. Kariya’s goal remains the franchise’s fastest ever.
It was the second night in a row that Manson scored the Ducks’ first goal. The déjà vu level reached an even higher peak when for the second straight game, Nick Ritchie scored Anaheim’s second goal. How bizarre is that? At that point, I could not help but pay very close attention every time that Carter Rowney jumped onto the ice, as he had scored the third goal the night before.
What also felt like déjà vu was that for the second consecutive night, the Ducks entered the third period with the score tied, this time, 2-2. That was because the Panthers received second period goals from Aaron Ekblad and Evgenii Dadonov to give Florida a 2-1 lead, but Ritchie’s clutch goal tied the game before the second intermission.
Ritchie was not finished. The young left-winger still planned for an encore. As the clock ticked down to the final minutes of the game with the score tied, sudden death overtime appeared inevitable. That is when Ritchie who has a flare for the dramatic, as evidenced by his game-seven goal in 2017, struck again. He completed a pretty give-and-go with Ryan Getzlaf, and here is the replay:
(Footage courtesy of NHL.)
That was Ritchie’s third goal in two nights, and ninth point this season in which he has only played in 12 games. Dude is on fire. After Wednesday’s victory, the 22-year-old described his game-winner.
“A strong forecheck. Getzy gets in there,” Ritchie said. “He made a good play to turn the puck over, and then bobbled around the net and found me again right in front.”
John Gibson was sensational as he stopped 42-of-44 Panthers’ shots on goal to raise his save percentage this season to .927. That ties Gibson for fifth in the NHL among goaltenders that played in at least 10 games. Gibson is also second in the league in saves, and in number of shots he has faced.
With the victory, the Ducks improved their winning percentage to .537, its highest since Oct. 24 when the Ducks were at .550. As the Vegas Golden Knights were idle on Wednesday, Anaheim moved into third-place in the Pacific Division, at least for now. Vegas still holds a game in hand and owns the first tiebreaker in the race for the division’s final playoff berth.
The Ducks are 12-10-5 for 29 points after 27 games, which marks the end of the first third of this season’s 82-game schedule. Anaheim is on pace to finish with only 88 points, which would be their lowest total in an 82-game season since 2011-12, the last time they failed to reach the playoffs. However, this season is different because the Ducks’ division is incredibly weak. The Ducks are only 21 percentage points behind the second-seeded San Jose Sharks who lost Wednesday in regulation to fall to .558.
Anaheim is on a bit of a roll, not only with its two-game winning streak, but the Ducks have gone 4-1-1 ever since Hampus Lindholm dropped out of the lineup due to an injury. Isn’t that interesting? I wrote on Nov. 7 in Ducks Embarrass Themselves Again, This Time In LA that “Lindholm has created for himself a well-deserved spot in my doghouse this season.” Ten days later, the veteran defenseman got hurt, and surprise surprise, Anaheim suddenly gets red hot without his bad passes, terrible decisions, and rookie mistakes.
See? Once again, Rabbi Rabbs demonstrates that he knows about what he writes. Speaking of which, the Ducks scratched terrible Andrej Sustr against the Panthers, and again won without that giant pylon. In fact, Anaheim tried something different Wednesday by keeping the same forward lines and defensive pairings that had won the game the night before. In that same Ducks Embarrass Themselves article, I had complained that Head Coach Randy Carlyle juggled the roster and line combinations way too frequently. So, I am happy to see the same personnel utilized two nights in a row. Continuity creates chemistry and consistency. How is that for four words that begin with the same letter in a five-word sentence?
The Ducks are now 2-1 on their five-game road trip which continues Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Until then, Let’s Go Ducks !!
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