Recap: Gibson's Stellar Performance Not Enough in OT Loss to Florida

John Gibson turned in one of the best performances of his NHL career, guiding the Ducks to overtime against the first-place Florida Panthers, but Jonathan Huberdeau scored the game-winning goal to give the hosts a 3-2 victory tonight at FLA Live Arena.
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Gibson was terrific in his 52nd start of the season, making a franchise-record 52 saves and keeping Anaheim in it throughout the night despite feeling the force of the league's top-ranked offense.
Derek Grant and Troy Terry scored for the Ducks, who will conclude a four-game road trip Thursday at Tampa Bay.
With two points (1-1=2), Grant set a new career high in scoring (14-12=26) and matched his career best in assists. Terry's 33 goals are the most by a Duck since the 2017-18 season (Rickard Rakell).
Anthony Duclair scored twice for Florida, clinching his first career 30-goal season. Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves.
Anaheim went ahead seven minutes into the opening frame on a crisp tic-tace-toe passing play by the Trevor Zegras, Terry and Grant line deep in the offensive zone. Grant took the puck away from the Florida defense behind the net, quickly directing it to Zegras in the slot, who tapped it to his right for Terry for the night's first lead.

With the goal, Terry's 33rd of the season, the All-Star winger has found the back of the net in consecutive games and collected 2-3=5 points in his last six appearances.
The assist extended Zegras' point streak to four games (3-2=5) and moved the 20-year-old forward to within two points of the Ducks rookie scoring record (Bobby Ryan, 57 in 2008-09).
Gibson was sharp throughout the first, holding the Panthers off the board with 17 saves, including a lunging denial of Duclair.
Florida got on the board just over a minute into the second period on a home ice bounce, seemingly the only thing that could get a puck past Gibson early in the game. Duclair took the puck behind the Anaheim net looking for a centering pass, but his bid intended for Aleksander Barkov hit Jamie Drysdale's skate before sliding past Gibson to tie the score.
Grant restored the lead late in the frame, redirecting Drysdale's shot from the along the boards after the rookie defenseman had danced away from Panthers defenders inside the blue line.

Grant has points in three straight games (2-3=5) and five goals in his last 11 appearances.
Florida nearly tied the game again in the final minute of the second period on an odd-man rush, but Gibson robbed Ben Chiarot with a glove save.
The Panthers continued to pepper Gibson early in the third and finally broke through for the tying goal on a backdoor pass from Sam Reinhart to Duclair, who got just enough of the one-timer to get it past Gibson's outstretched glove.
Neither side would convert for the winning goal before the end of regulation despite good looks late in the third on both ends.
Gibson did his best work of the third period with a glove stop on Anton Lundell's shot from the faceoff circle. Moments later, Mayhew had a chance to put Anaheim back ahead as he won the race to Adam Henrique's lob pass, but Bobrovsky stood tall to force overtime.
In a night full of remarkable stops, Gibson then made maybe the best of them all early in OT, flashing his glove hand again to rob Sam Bennett on an unchecked bid from the slot.

Huberdeau, the NHL's second-leading scorer, then earned the Panthers the extra standings point, taking the puck away from Terry in the Ducks defensive zone and getting to his own rebound for the game-winning goal.
The Ducks conclude their four-game road trip Thursday at Tampa Bay.