Ducks hang on to win Game 1 against Flames

ANAHEIM --The Anaheim Ducks won their 28th straight game against the Calgary Flames at Honda Center, 3-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round on Thursday.
Ryan Getzlaf and Jakob Silfverberg each had a goal and an assist, Rickard Rakell scored, and John Gibson made 30 saves for Anaheim, which has won 22 consecutive regular-season games and six straight Stanley Cup Playoff games against Calgary at home since a 5-2 loss on April 25, 2006, in Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

WATCH: [All Flames vs. Ducks highlights | RELATED: Complete Calgary vs. Anaheim series coverage]
The Ducks allowed one shot on goal when the Flames had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:13 late in the third period. Gibson made back-to-back saves on Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau as the second penalty expired with 20 seconds remaining.

"He found a way to get in front of it. Big stop," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "I thought that the penalty-killing that we were able to provide tonight, we made some mistakes on clears, we were soft on clears where we should have had the puck down the ice. … Usually your best penalty-killer is your goalie anyways, 90 percent of the time."
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is here Saturday.
"We had our opportunities to tie it up and we didn't," Calgary forward Kris Versteeg. "Now we move on to the next one."
The Flames took their only lead, 2-1, at 9:46 of the second period on a goal by Sam Bennett, but the Ducks scored twice before the end of the period to take a 3-2 lead into the third.
Getzlaf and Patrick Eaves broke in 2-on-0 after defenseman Kevin Bieksa caught Calgary on a line change and hit Getlzaf with a stretch pass from behind the Anaheim net. Getzlaf kept the puck and shot from the left faceoff circle, and the rebound came out to Rakell, who was trailing the play and scored high into the net to tie the game 2-2 at 13:53.

"Got the life back in the building," Carlyle said.
The Ducks then had consecutive power plays and scored 1:26 into the second man-advantage after keeping the puck in the Flames zone the entire time. Silfverberg had room to bring it into the left circle and shoot it past goalie Brian Elliott for a 3-2 lead at 17:47.
Getzlaf and Flames forward Sean Monahan each scored a power-play goal in the first period.
Getzlaf made it 1-0 with a shot from the point 52 seconds into the game, five seconds after Flames defenseman Dougie Hamilton was called for tripping.
Monahan scored on a redirection at 8:43 to tie it 1-1 with Ducks forward Ondrej Kase in the penalty box for slashing.

Goal of the game

With the Flames on the power play, Ducks defenseman Josh Manson appeared to have room to clear the puck, but TJ Brodie knocked it down with his stick at the blue line, and then passed to Versteeg. Monahan got in front of Manson as he charged towards the left post, and Versteeg passed to him from above the right circle for a redirection at the top of the crease past Gibson.

Save of the game

At the end of 2:47 of consecutive power-play time for Calgary late in the third period, Gibson got his glove on Tkachuk's shot from the far side of the left circle, but he couldn't control the puck. Gaudreau got to it in front of the net, but Gibson stuck out his left pad to make the save on Gaudreau's backhand and managed to freeze the puck.

Highlight of the game

Getzlaf put an open-ice hit on defenseman Mark Giordano in the Flames zone at 14:09 of the third period, knocking the Calgary captain to the ice. Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler was injured on an open-ice hit by Giordano on April 4 and has not returned to the lineup. Getzlaf then drew a slashing penalty on Hamilton, who had come to Giordano's defense, giving Anaheim its seventh power play.

Unsung performance of the game

Kesler won 13 of 21 faceoffs (62.0 percent) to help the Ducks to a 49-29 advantage. He also got his stick into Flames forward Mikael Backlund's hands to disrupt a shorthanded breakaway in the third period, and killed about six seconds at the end of the game by sitting on the puck in the Anaheim zone.

They said it

"We took way too many penalties. We know that ... we have to sharpen up a bit." -- Flames captain Mark Giordano
"Tonight was just the example of our guy making the difference." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle on captain Ryan Getzlaf

Need to know

The Ducks have won an NHL-record 25 consecutive regular-season games against the Flames at Honda Center, three of which came prior to the 2006 playoff loss. ... Getzlaf has 101 points (30 goals, 71 assists) in 105 NHL playoff games. He is the first player in Ducks history with 100 or more. He has 29 points (five goals, 24 assists) in his past 19 games going back to the regular season. ... Elliott made 38 saves in his first postseason game for the Flames.

What's next

Game 2 of Western Conference First Round at Honda Center on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports, FS-W)