Recap: Shorthanded Ducks Lose Lead, Then Game in OT, 4-3 to Colorado

ANAHEIM - Two nights after suffering a heartbreaking defeat in overtime, the Ducks may have topped it tonight.

A slap shot one-timer from the high slot by Colorado winger Mikko Rantanen found the top corner with just 1.3 seconds left in OT as the Ducks were downed by the Avalance 4-3 after surrendering a third period lead.
A slashing penalty called on Pontus Aberg with just 14.7 seconds left in the extra session gave Colorado a 4-on-3 advantage, and they made it pay off just before the horn to hand Anaheim its third straight loss.
It was also the first time in six games the Ducks lost after heading into the third period with the lead, as their one-goal cushion was wiped out with 8 1/2 minutes left in regulation. They actually held a two-goal lead with under two minutes to go in the second.
The already shorthanded Ducks announced before the game that goalie John Gibson would be out with the flu and defenseman Hampus Lindholm would miss tonight with a lower-body injury. They joined other prominent Ducks on the shelf, including Cam Fowler (who is out indefinitely with a facial injury), Patrick Eaves (upper body) and Corey Perry (knee surgery).

The litany of injuries forced the Ducks to dress four rookie defenseman -
Jacob Larsson
,
Josh Mahura
,
Marcus Pettersson
,
Andy Welinski
) - the first time Anaheim had four rookie d-men in a game since May 3, 1995 (Darren Van Impe, Jason York, Milos Holan and Oleg Tverdovsky.) Mahura was the only one of the group making his debut tonight.
With "veteran" 24-year-old Brandon Montour and 27-year-old Josh Manson rounding out the blue line corps, the average age of the Anaheim defenseman tonight was 23.1.
"We have some key players on our team out, but we have all the confidence in the world with guys coming up and down from San Diego," Montour said. "Obviously, it was Josh's first game. Andy, Petey and Lars, those guys have played a number of games. They're getting their experience. It's good for us. Getting more minutes for the young guys."
Behind those young d-men was the Ducks' oldest player, Ryan Miller, who had 38 saves filling in for Gibson but couldn't get a piece of Rantanen's shot in the final seconds.
"I thought we skated much better," Miller said. "We were in control of the play a little bit tonight. Unfortunately, we didn't get the penalty kills we needed. It's frustrating."
Montour gave Anaheim the game's first goal at 4:45 of the first, picking up the puck behind the Colorado net and tucking in a wraparound off the skate of goalie Philipp Grubauer.

"Last couple of games, we've been generating more shots. It was going to come," Montour said. "It was nice to get a couple. Three goals wasn't enough, but it was nice we got a couple."
Colorado's Sven Andrighetto tied the game just a couple minutes into the second, but the Ducks came back with two quick ones to take a 3-1 lead.
Ryan Getzlaf got his fifth of the year with a beautiful wrister from the high slot that darted top shelf.

Then a little over a minute later, Ondrej Kase notched his first of the season with a nifty tip of a Montour feed on the rush. It was Montour's third point of the game, a new career high.

A Montour interference penalty allowed the Avs to get within a goal with just under two minutes left in the second, as Nathan MacKinnon swept in a rebound.
And Colorado ultimately tied it with 8:40 left on a MacKinnon one-timer from the slot, his second goal of the night.
"I thought we executed with the puck early in the game," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We had some questionable plays later in the game where we seemed to get a little soft with it. There were more pucks bouncing and rolling around. They came with more pressure. They got on us, and we didn't execute quite to the same level in the last half of the game as we did in the first half."
The Ducks are back at it Wednesday night vs. Vancouver at Honda Center, and their homestand concludes Friday afternoon vs. Edmonton.