Photo: AP Photo/Jim Mone
By Alex Valle
After dropping two straight, the Pacific Division leading Ducks knew that they would have to have a better defensive effort against a strong, battling Minnesota squad. On this Friday night, Anaheim would invade Saint Paul to face a Wild team that had turned around since acquiring Devan Dubnyk from Arizona earlier this year. After a loss against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night, John Gibson would be given the green light to return to the net, hoping for a better result.
For other Ducks players, this match-up marked Ryan Getzlaf’s 700th career NHL game and also the return to the line-up for Anaheim’s LW Matt Beleskey, his first game back since he was injured February 15th against the Washington Capitals. In net for Minnesota was none other than Dubnyk, his 27th straight start.
Ducks and Wild games are always interesting because one gets to see the development of Mathew Dumba (Wild) and Hampus Lindholm (Ducks), selected right after one another in the 2012 NHL draft, the former going seventh overall and the latter going sixth.
First Period
Early in the game Clayton Stoner would drop the gloves with Chris Stewart. Both of these combatants are heavy weights for their respective teams and Stewart would end up winning the fight, bringing energy to both clubs. Opening the scoring was Francois Beauchemin, his ninth of the season, from Jakob Silfverberg and Ryan Kesler. Beauchemin would shoot low, beating Dubnyk, after receiving a drop pass from Silfverberg, to give the Ducks the 1-0 lead. The Wild would get two powerplays in the opening frame, causing the shot differential to be 16-7 in Minnesota’s favor, though Anaheim would take their lead to the locker room.
Second Period
After Dubnyk stepped out to play the puck, Corey Perry, trying to go around him, slightly bumped his mask, which was something the Minnesota goalie embellished, drawing an interference call against the Ducks winger. On the resulting powerplay, Zach Parise would tie the game, scoring his 27th of the season, from Thomas Vanek and Mikko Koivu. Vanek took a shot from a bad angle, which was stopped by Gibson, but the puck stayed in the Anaheim crease. Parise found the rebound and put it right by the Ducks goalie to capitalize on the bad Anaheim penalty. Anaheim would retake the lead, however, 2-1, after Silfverberg was able to deflect a puck by Dubnyk, with assists going to Simon Despres and Kesler. While on 4 on 4, Dumba turned the puck over, resulting in a point shot from newcomer Despres, which became Silfverberg’s 11th of the year. Andrew Cogliano had a chance to make it 3-1 Ducks while on a shorthanded breakaway, but he was denied by the blocker of Dubnyk. Due to the high energy seen from Anaheim in this period, they were able to reduce the shot advantage to 17-24 for the Wild.
Third Period
In the final frame, Anaheim went into lockdown mode, protecting their 2-1 lead. During one of the many scrambles, James Wisniewski was hit in the face by a stick, but did return. Both Wiz and Getzlaf ended up making some top notch defensive plays in order to save a few game tying goals as Anaheim kept weathering the storm of the Wild. With the Wild net empty and 25 seconds to go, Gibson made his save of the night, stacking his glove over his blocker to prevent Nino Niederreiter from finding the back of the net on a rebound chance. Anaheim’s win would shatter their losing streak, though they were out shot 33-24.
The Ducks return to Honda Center on Sunday for a 5 p.m. faceoff against the Nashville Predators.
Three Stars
1. Francois Beauchemin
2. Zach Parise
3. Hampus Lindholm
Goalies:
John Gibson: Win 10-6-0 (32/33 SV)
Devan Dubnyk: Loss 28-9-3 (22/24 SV)
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