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The Anaheim Ducks picked up their second win in a row last night, defeating the San Jose Sharks 6-5 in a shootout.
The Ducks went back to 12 forwards for the game, with Brett Leason entering the lineup in place of defenseman Colton White.
Adam Henrique opened the scoring for Anaheim early, taking a pass from Kevin Shattenkirk and picking a corner to beat Kaapo Kahkonen. The Sharks responded right away though, as Erik Karlsson wired a shot through traffic only about a minute later to tie the game. The Sharks weren’t done there, as only 23 seconds later, Karlsson wristed another point shot through traffic, beating Anthony Stolarz to give San Jose the lead.
A little later, however, Isac Lundestrom made a great play to skate with the puck around San Jose’s end and found Frank Vatrano, who beat Kahkonen five-hole to tie the game again. Then with only about 15 seconds to go in the frame, Henrique scored his second goal of the game off an excellent move, deking out both Matt Benning and then Kahkonen to give the Ducks a 3-2 lead after 20 minutes.
Timo Meier was able to even the game for the Sharks early in the second frame, as he managed to get past Cam Fowler at the line, fall, then hang onto the puck and beat Stolarz. The Ducks did manage to re-take the lead later in the second frame, with John Klingberg’s shot going in off Ryan Strome, but it was short-lived, as Jakob Silfverberg tried to take the puck off Timo Meier but ended up just firing a shot at his own net, which beat Stolarz to tie the game for the Sharks through 40 minutes.
Anaheim did end up taking back the lead midway through the third period, with Max Comtois taking a pass from Troy Terry and burying it from a good spot. As San Jose pressed to tie it late, Anthony Stolarz ended up making a huge save on Steven Lorentz to protect the lead, sliding across for a huge glove save. However, with under three minutes to go, Karlsson struck again, somehow getting a shot through Stolarz to it up once more, sending the game to overtime.
The Ducks did outshoot San Jose in the extra frame by a 3-2 margin. However, neither team was able to end it, so we continued to a shootout.
Logan Couture and Trevor Zegras exchanged goals as the first two shooters, but Kevin Labanc couldn’t get a shot off as San Jose’s next shooter and Anaheim capitalized, with Troy Terry deking Kahkonen to put Anaheim ahead. Erik Karlsson then had to score to keep the game going but Stolarz came up with a save, securing a win for the Ducks.
When you have two teams that both struggle defensively yet have some high-end forwards, there’s the possibility of seeing a game filled with complete chaos, which is exactly what last night’s game involved. We saw a total of 89 shots on goal (before the shootout), Adam Henrique’s second goal was excellent, but it was topped shortly after by Timo Meier’s ridiculous individual play. Then before the end of the second period ended, Jakob Silfverberg scored on his own net.
It was really positive to see other forwards chipping in, with Adam Henrique picking up his first and second goals of the season and Max Comtois scoring as well. At the very least, it was good to see the Ducks scoring at a high rate and it was obviously an entertaining game.
It also marked Mason McTavish’s 10th NHL game, meaning the Ducks will burn the first year of his entry-level contract. While there wasn’t much of a doubt McTavish would remain with Anaheim rather than being sent back to the OHL, the 10th game solidifies it.
It also marks the Ducks’ second win in a row, after seven losses in their first eight games. Now 3-6-1, they face another opponent near the bottom of the Pacific Division in their next game, facing the Vancouver Canucks tomorrow.
Anaheim Ducks Blogger • 
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