Opportune Getzlaf Goal Gives Ducks Game 2 Victory

ANAHEIM - In a Game 2 that was hardly a thing of beauty for the Anaheim Ducks, it proved poetic their winning goal was far from elegant.

Deadlocked 2-2 with the Calgary Flames in a tense affair at Honda Center, the Ducks caught a huge break on the power play with 4:46 left in the game, as a Ryan Getzlaf centering pass deflected off the skate of Calgary's Lance Bouma and dove under the crossbar.

Getzlaf described the goal in one word: "Lucky. We worked hard for the faceoff to get the puck back. Sometimes luck is on your side."
The goal made it 3-2 Ducks, who hung on down the stretch to take a 2-0 lead in a series that heads to Calgary for Games 3 and 4.
"It wasn't the prettiest hockey game that we've played," Getzlaf said, "but it's nice to get those bounces once in awhile."
The goal was Getzlaf's second of the series and gives him 11 points (three goals and eight assists) in his last seven games, dating back to the regular season. Just as in Game 1, Getzlaf, Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell had Anaheim's goals, and John Gibson was outstanding with 35 saves.

Chants of "You Can't Win Here" once again rose from the Honda Center crowd early and often tonight, only proven right by a seventh straight postseason home win for the Ducks over the Flames. Including regular season, Anaheim has beaten Calgary 29 times in a row at Honda Center.

With the Flames scrapping to get even after the Getzlaf goal, TJ Brodie took a cross checking penalty on a battling Ryan Kesler in the Calgary zone with 2:38 left in the game. The Ducks weren't able to take advantage but locked things down in the closing seconds after Calgary sent goalie Brian Elliott to the bench for an extra attacker.
"When we're taking care of the puck and trying to beat their defensemen, playing hard on the puck, it's hard to play with us," Rakell said. "That's when they start taking penalties."
As in Game 1, the Ducks took the game's first lead relatively early, on Silfverberg's second goal of the series. Silfverberg, who had the game-winner in Game 1, picked up the puck near the right wing half wall and fired a wrist shot that eluded Elliott's glove.

Rakell's second goal of the series made it 2-0 a few minutes later when he scooped up a loose puck behind the net and tucked it inside the left post behind an unaware Elliott.

Anaheim looked poised to increase the lead after a Matthew Tkachuk double minor for high sticking Patrick Eaves, but a weak start to the power play turned into a shorthanded Calgary breakaway in which Mikael Backlund beat Gibson with the forehand.
That was a gut punch to the Ducks and turned the tide of the game, as Calgary ultimately got even seven minutes into the second period late on a power play, Sean Monahan burying a one-timer from the slot.
Midway through the period, during a mad scramble in the Anaheim crease, the puck managed to sneak over the stripe just before the net was dislodged, but a video review held up the call on the ice of no goal. The Ducks escaped the period tied 2-2 when things could have been much worse.
"The second period ended, so that helped," Getzlaf said. "That was an ugly period for us. They came out with an attitude in the second period that they were going to try to push us. They did a great job. They got us off our game a little bit. When the period ended, we were able to come in here composed. We took a few deep breaths and got back at it.
Coach Randy Carlyle encouraged his team to turn the page in the second intermission. "We just experienced one of our worst periods in a long time," he said. "We just stood around and watched what they did. We couldn't complete two passes and gave up 15 shots. It was just time to reset our group. Just forget about it. What we needed to do was establish our game again right at the start of the third period, and I thought we did that."
Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen was ruled out with an upper-body injury just before the game, replaced by Korbinian Holzer. That left the Ducks with four defensemen - Holzer, Josh Manson, Brandon Montour and Shea Theodore - with just 10 combined games of playoff experience.
They all helped the Ducks shut down the Calgary attack, notably in the game's most intense moments, giving the Ducks momentum going into a Game 3 on Monday night at Scotiabank Saddledome.