Few would have predicted at the time it would be Anaheim's last score of the night.
"We were sloppy," Kesler said. "Our structure wasn't there. We're playing a bit soft. We need to start playing mean."
Of his debut, the 33-year-old vet said, "It felt good. A little rusty. I said my reads were probably going to be a little off, and they were. As the game went on, I settled in. It was nice to get Silvy [Silfverberg] and Cogs [Andrew Cogliano] back together. After that, I thought we put together a couple good shifts."
Yet Vegas got even with two minutes left in the period when former Duck Shea Theodore wasn't picked up on the left wing and flung a wrister past goalie John Gibson.
A defensive breakdown just after an unsuccessful Anaheim power play led to Vegas' first lead of the game, as Cody Eakin beat a gambling Hampus Lindholm down the ice and buried a shot. Lindholm called the goal, "My mistake. We gave them easier goals. When you play hard and you keep playing hard for 60 minutes, you're going to get rewarded. We kind of quit when things didn't go our way. We need to be better than that."
Anaheim fell into a two-goal hole just 28 seconds into the third period on a defensive zone turnover by Josh Manson that led directly to a goal by another former Duck, William Karlsson.
The Ducks couldn't generate much in their attempts to get back in the game, going several minutes without a shot during a crucial phase in the third.
"They raised their level of play and we didn't," Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said. "Most of all, we quit playing. Simple as that. We didn't come out and play with the urgency we needed to after those first 12, 14 minutes of the hockey game, which is weird. Coming off these breaks, sometimes you think your starts are going to be a little rough, but we came out and played hard. For whatever reason, we got away from what we wanted to do."
The Ducks sent Gibson off for an extra attacker with 3 1/2 minutes left and paid for it when yet another former teammate, David Perron, filled the empty net from the red line with less than a minute to go.
"We weren't very good in the second period and didn't get much better in the third," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We were pushing for the extra goal. All they did was sit back. They had five guys back and we played into their hands. We were too far spread out, didn't support the puck and didn't get inside enough. We were standing still a lot. That's one of the things you scratch your head about. We play a decent first 20 minutes and the rest of the game kind of got away from us."
The Ducks have their chances to bounce back at home before the New Year, facing Calgary on Friday night and Arizona on Sunday afternoon at Honda Center
