It wasn't the prettiest win of the season for the Anaheim Ducks, but it may have been the biggest. The visiting team skated into Calgary and burned the Flames with grit and goaltending. The 4-0 shutout boosted their playoff chances while almost certainly ending Calgary's
Andrew Cogliano provided the grit and John Gibson the goaltending.
Calgary outshot the Ducks 29-16 in the game and only allowed five shots on goal in the first period. Still, the Ducks went into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead thanks to Cogs beautiful shorthanded goal. Ryan Getzlaf and Cogliano harrassed the Calgary D until they coughed up the puck in front of Mike Smith. The "Iron Man" did the rest.
It was the Ducks 10th shorthanded goal of the season - tying them for first in the NHL. For Cogliano, it was his third SHG of the season and 16th as a Duck, tying him for the most in franchise history with HHOF'er Paul Kariya.
The goal changed the tide of the game for good.
Anaheim cracked it open in the second period with goals from Ondrej Kase (18) and Hampus Lindholm (11). Francois Beachemin completed the scoring with his third goal of the season.
Getzlaf had two assists for his 17th multi-point game of the season and his sixth in the last 10.
John Gibson was spot on again for his fourth consecutive win and 10th in 12 starts. He stopped all 29 shots he faced, improving his record to 29-17-5. Gibson has four shoutouts this season with three of them coming within the last three weeks.
I think the Ducks are going to pull this off. With 88 points they pulled one point ahead of the Kings for third in the Pacific Division.
BTW, with the demise of Calgary's playoff chances, we are guaranteed a battle of California in the first round. Who's excited?
Thanks for reading, Steve