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 on Friday night at Honda Center.
Troy Terry (two goals, assist) and Leo Carlsson (goal, three assists) combined for seven 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 video tribute.
The Ducks scored on the power play and came up with a short-handed tally to offset the one goal they gave up down a man in a staggering seven opportunities. The Ducks rank 18th in terms of both power-play conversion and penalty kill percentages after finishing dead last on the PP and fourth from the bottom on the PK last season.
“When the special teams are clicking, it makes the rest of your game a little easier,” Terry said.
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.
“It was kind of a weird one, but we certainly got our looks on the power play,” Kreider said. “It was a good time to punch one in there in the third and give us a little breathing room.”
With 2:32 to play, Terry found the back of a vacated cage with a lob from the red line, sealing the Ducks’ victory. Terry now has five goals in five games and 10 points across a six-game scoring surge.
Detroit, which beat the Kings in a shootout Thursday, was not consistently at its sharpest Friday.
“I thought our bodies wanted to go, but our brains didn’t, and, at the end of the night, that probably cost us,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “I still think we gave ourselves a chance, but the power play didn’t get us what it needed to and we couldn’t get the kill at the end, so special teams probably sealed it.”
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 extended their edge. 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, striking at 4:53 and 12:24, with a Detroit goal wedged between those tallies.
The hosts wobbled a bit at the outset: Jacob Trouba’s defensive-zone turnover forced him to play goalie against James van Riemsdyk and Sam Colangelo’s delay of game penalty left the Ducks down a man. But they turned the tables with some solid board work and Terry’s short-handed breakaway. He cleanly beat his former cohort Gibson, who did not speak to the media postgame but did have a couple words for Terry.
“I didn’t want to give it to him. He said ‘good shot,’” Terry said. “I think now the door is open. I’m going to go see him in a second here. So we’ll see where that conversation goes.”
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 past Gibson. Carlsson has nine points during a five-game tear.
Next up, the Ducks will host the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. The Devils’ former No. 1 pick, Jack Hughes, and Carlsson now have the same point total, 15, in 11 games for Hughes and 10 for Carlsson.