ANAHEIM –– The Ducks were far from frightened of the Atlantic Division leaders on Halloween as they prevailed comfortably 5-2 over the Detroit Red Wings at Honda Center on Friday night.
Troy Terry (two goals, assist) and Leo Carlsson (goal, two assists) combined for three goals and six points. Mason McTavish scored a goal, as did Chris Kreider, who returned from a four-game absence (illness). Lukáš Dostál came up with 26 saves to best the man he once backed up, John Gibson.
Detroit’s Alex DeBrincat set up Lucas Raymond for a goal and Raymond returned the favor. Gibson halted 27 pucks in his return to Katella Avenue, where he played from 2014 until this summer when he was dealt to Detroit. Gibson was greeted boisterously by the crowd on hand during a first-period video tribute.
The closing stanza began with a Ducks power play 29 seconds in and a man-advantage marker 26 ticks later. Kreider popped in a rebound just after Gibson had intentionally nudged the net off its moorings. The act was captured on camera and the goal was awarded to Kreider, his fifth in six games as a Duck.
With 2:32 to play, Terry found the back of a vacated cage with a lob from the red line, sealing the Ducks’ victory.
The middle frame was defined by a pivotal sequence that began around the five-minute mark. Then, Detroit appeared to deadlock the score with a marker from Moritz Seider, but an extensive video review determined he kicked the puck into the net, annulling the goal.
Within 90 seconds, the Ducks were back on top. Defenders J.T. Compher and Axel Sandin-Pellikka impeded each other’s progress toward McTavish as he glided across the circles, stopping at the right faceoff dot to rifle a wrist shot to the far side for a 3-1 lead.
The Wings would pull within a goal anew, as their power play clawed one back. Raymond eschewed a seam pass to slip the puck to DeBrincat in tight. He pivoted and knifed the puck past Dostál for his fourth goal in four games to make it 3-2.
The Ducks bookended the scoring in the opening frame, scoring at 4:53 and 12:24, with a Detroit goal wedged between those tallies.
The hosts wobbled a bit at the outset, with Jacob Trouba’s defensive-zone turnover forcing him to play goalie against James van Riemsdyk and Sam Colangelo’s delay of game penalty leaving the Ducks down a man. But they turned the tables with some solid board work and Terry’s shorthanded breakaway. He cleanly beat his former cohort Gibson for his fourth goal in five games.
Raymond drew Detroit even with a goal in transition, receiving a pass from Dylan Larkin and burning best buds Jackson LaCombe and Drew Helleson.
The Ducks went to the dressing room up a goal just the same. Trouba deflected a centering attempt in the slot to Terry, who darted across three zones before he feathered a pass to Carlsson that was as optimally placed as Carlsson’s wrist shot got past Gibson.
More to come on this story.