Viktor Fasth was supposed to get the start against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night. He never made it past warm-ups, allowing his battery mate, Jonas Hiller, to step in and step up in his absence.
Fasth, who has already missed 14 games with a 'lower body ' injury, tweaked something in warm-ups and was unable to play. While unfortunate for Fasth, it turned out to be a blessing is disguise for Anaheim.
Tampa threw 31 shots at Jonas and he stopped every one of them for his second shutout this season. If you'll recall, Hiller had just one shutout all of last season.
Ryan Getzlaf scored a strange goal with 5.2 seconds left in overtime to secure a 1-0 win over the the Tampa at Honda Center.
The game was wide open from the first puck drop with both teams trading scoring opportunities all night long and ironically it wasn't decided until a strange goal in the waning seconds of the extra period.
As good as Hiller was, his counterpart, Ben Bishop, was that much better. The 6' 7" human-was spectacular it's a shame he had to lose like that, but the Ducks were due for some puck luck of their own. Anaheim lost in OT a few nights ago to the New Jersey Devils on a fluke goal.
A little luck goes a long way and hopefully it can carry over tonight as the Ducks visit the Phoenix Coyotes in a crucial Pacific Division showdown.
Game Observations and Notes:
- The Ducks' captain came down the left wing like a bull in a China shop and fired a shot at goalie Ben Bishop. The puck bounced off Bishop and defenseman Richard Panik accidently knocked it in trying to clear the crease.
- The goal was Getz's 13th of the season and 26th point overall. He leads the Ducks in both categories and shows zero signs of slowing down
(scoring-wise) at all. It was also the captain's fifth game-winning goal in the 22 games he's played
- Getzlaf has a GWG is nearly a quarter of the games he plays in. At this point words don't do his level of play any justice. It's just been really fun to watch. Can we say 'MVP?'
- The win ended the Ducks five-game winless streak (0-3-2) and put Anaheim back on top of the NHL standings with 35 points.
- Selanne goalless streak reached 13 games and it's been 10 games since the future Hall of Famer has registered a point. If Teemu was a kid he would have been scratched already.
- Expect Frederik Andersen to be back in goal against Phoenix.
- Tim Jackman made his Ducks debut and had one shot on goal and five minutes in PIM's.
- Andrew Cogliano was a beast. He didn't register a point but did put six shots on goal and was flying all freaking night long. Let's see some more Andy.
- Cam Fowler has been very good this season. His plus/minus is a season-high plus-3.
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