Ducks fly high in 3-2 shootout win on opening night

Kiefer Sherwood #64 of the Anaheim Ducks celebrates a goal in the second period against Jimmy Howard #35 and Dylan Larkin #71 of the Detroit Red Wings during the game on October 8, 2018 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Ducks got sweet revenge in their home opener at Honda Center Monday night. To mark their 25^th anniversary, Anaheim closed the gap on the Detroit Red Wings to force a shootout and win on Troy Terry’s lone point that earned them a 3-2 win. It gave the Ducks a 3-0 star for the first time since 2006 when they went on to win the Stanley Cup. Despite getting a point, the Red Wings were once again facing a troubling season with their third straight loss.

The Red Wings got into a bit of trouble with their lines at the far end as penalties from fighting took one of them out of the running in their 4-2 loss to the Kings Sunday. With veterans still missing on the defenseman side of the squad it left Detroit vulnerable. Trevor Daley became an addition to the list of injured players as they took on the Ducks who came out the gate at blazing speeds. They won their first two games in stunning fashion beating the Sharks before blanking the Coyotes on a short road trip. With this being a remember of Anaheim’s very first game where they opened facing Detroit, the Ducks would do everything to get the win and change history.

The Ducks had their chance 40 second into the game as the Red Wings gave them a power play. Detroit’s PK worked to take down the Ducks who barely got a shot on Jimmy Howard before time expired on the penalty. They remained the only team to record shots on goal for 7:15 before Detroit gained their first on a quick wrister from Gustav Nyquist. While it didn’t produce a goal, he managed to liven up the offense for Detroit to come out warmed up by the midpoint of the period.

Detroit caught a break on John Gibson’s mistake as the puck was open for possession which they captured on. A back handed pass from Michael Rasmussen to Tyler Bertuzzi allowed the 23 year old left winger to gain his second of the season. “It was a hard rim,” Bertuzzi said to Trevor Thompson of FSD. “Franz just told me to leave it there so he could pick it up so I tried to go to the net there and Ras made a nice play to me there and got it in.”

The tall rookie recorded his first NHL career point giving the Red Wings something to build upon. They got even on shots to the net with the Ducks with three left to play in the first indicating their strength to keep the pressure on. The Ducks found a chance to get the puck out of their zone just enough to kill time off the clock resulting to the end of 20 minutes. They outshot them 8-6 with the ability to hold off the Ducks from leveling the game.

Anaheim nearly had a shot two minutes into the second to get the game evened up with a power play. Once again it was negated by their own penalty on Detroit to go 4 on 4 for a majority of the precedent. When the power plays were concluded, the Red Wings picked up where they left off shooting far more than Anaheim who trailed on. When they closed in on recording their 10^th shot, the Ducks skated the puck closer where Hampus Lindholm wrist the puck to Howard’s left for his first.

Detroit’s push to get the puck sped into the Anaheim zone worked for the first time with Darren Helm scoring on a second opportunity for his first. Danny DeKeyser got an assist for the stretch pass with Jimmy Howard gaining a rare one as well. They made sure to hold their lead the same way as they did in the first to bring 40 minute to a close with both teams shooting eight each.

When the third period got going, the Ducks and Red Wings were taking their time to look for good scoring chances. Anaheim was intent on getting things even but knew that more had to come from them to get it done. At the nine minute mark, the Ducks made it two all with Jakob Silfverberg getting credit for the goal as his team played hard in front of Howard to make it possible. They were clearly gaining the momentum but as the game inched closer to its finish, Howard and the Red Wings were fighting to prevent them getting their first lead of the game. They never got the chance to do so in regulation and would have to fend off the Red Wings in overtime with 3 on 3 action. Anaheim found a way outduel their former Western Conference rivals taking ten while holding Detroit to five in the third.

The Red Wings youthful lines tried to get scoring opportunities at Gibson but none of them were good enough to produce the game winner. They held off the Ducks as well with big saves from the defense and Howard again with solid focus on the play brought to him. They went for a couple of shots but the Detroit netminder made a save off the pads giving the Red Wings one more chance. It didn’t come for them either as they couldn’t get the shot together fast enough with the teams moving into a shootout.

Rickard Rakell went first but was stopped by Howard who made the save to his right. Tomas Vanek missed as well with Gibson following him to make the stop low. Terry made his chance count with a wrister behind Howard to give the Ducks the leverage. Frans Nielsen who was the leader for Detroit on shots last season couldn’t get it done unable to keep a handle on the puck. Sam Steel missed the chance to clinch the win which left Nyquist with a chance to tie it. His shot through the five hole was denied by the Ducks goaltender who brought home the win on opening night.

He finished with a save percentage above 90 stopping 19 of 21 against Detroit. Despite his second loss this season Howard had yet another great performance between the pipes where he made 25 saves for a .926 save percentage. While the Ducks get set for one more game at home, the Red Wings would go back to theirs in order to get set for a battle against the surging Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday.