ANAHEIM — Two high-octane offenses produced a defensive duel at Honda Center on Monday night, when the Ducks edged the Utah Mammoth, 3-2, in overtime after Troy Terry scored with four seconds to play in regulation.
The Ducks entered the tilt as the No. 2 attack in the NHL on the strength of their recent seven-game winning streak, a position Utah occupied on Oct. 25 toward the end of its own seven-game surge.
Yet offense was at a premium, as it had been for the Ducks during a three-game losing streak across which they scored just four goals. Utah lost for the seventh time in nine games since its October ascent.
Jackson LaCombe opened the scoring, Terry tied the game in its dying embers and Olen Zellweger won it in OT, as the Ducks moved back into first place in the Pacific Division and remained unbeaten at Honda Center since Oct. 16. Alex Killorn assisted on the goals by LaCombe and Terry. Lukáš Dostál made 16 saves.
Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley scored for Utah. Karel Vejmelka made 22 saves.
In the extra session, the Ducks completed their rally at 1:50, when Beckett Sennecke drew Vejmelka far out of his crease with a fake before dropping the puck to Zellweger for an uncontested game-winner.
The Ducks spent more than two minutes with the extra attacker, generating pressure six-on-five but taking until 4.1 seconds showed on the game clock to knot the score.
Cutter Gauthier’s shot-pass for Chris Kreider resulted in a struck post, but the puck teetered in the crease where it was tapped home by Terry to send the game to overtime.
At the 9:19 mark of the third period, Utah took its first lead of the night off Cooley’s first goal in eight games since signing an eight-year, $80 million contract. His seam pass went from the right circle to the left point, where a crafty return pass from Mikhail Sergachev set up Cooley’s one-timer from the dot.
Ducks captain Radko Gudas returned to the lineup healthy after missing 11 games. He was on for the opening goal and his point shot was nearly tipped home in the second period by Gauthier, but it went wide of Vejmelka.
Gudas was on the ice for Utah’s equalizer with 1:46 left in the frame. The Ducks have been outscored 11-3 with Gudas on the ice and 7-3 at even strength.
It was something of a mismatch with the Mammoth’s second line on against the Ducks’ fourth, and defenseman Nate Schmidt put enforcer Ross Johnston in the spin cycle to break down the Ducks’ coverage. Guenther raised his stick skyward and was soon after blasting a one-timer past a pair of Czechs, Gudas and Dostál.
In each of the first two periods, the team that scored had the lesser overall possession numbers. In the opening 20 minutes, the Ducks nearly capitalized early before cashing in late on their best opportunities.
At four-on-four, a rebound narrowly eluded Drew Helleson for what would have been a tap-in goal. But later, his shot block keyed a counterattack on which all five Ducks touched the puck before a give-and-go between LaCombe and Ryan Strome gave them a 1-0 lead with 4:08 remaining. It was the first goal of the year for LaCombe, whose 14 goals last season were twice as many as the next most productive Ducks defenseman.
After the ensuing faceoff, Johnston and Liam O’Brien squared off, with the crowd erupting when Johntson took O’Brien down to the ice.
More to come on this story.