ANAHEIM –– The Ducks played one of their more complete games in recent memory, including an unblemished performance against the NHL’s most efficient power play, but self-inflicted wounds cost them a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Honda Center on Sunday evening.
Ross Johnston and Pavel Mintyukov each scored a goal for the Ducks. Lukáš Dostál turned away 25 shots. Trevor Zegras, who was a game-time decision (ankle surgery), did not play.
Anthony Duclair and Luke Glendening accounted for Tampa Bay’s scoring in regulation before Anthony Cirelli slammed the door shut in OT. Jonas Johansson made 30 saves.
Tampa Bay, which won two Stanley Cups and three conference titles between 2020 and 2022, started its No. 2 goalie after losing to the Kings in overtime on Saturday. It was without one of its star forwards, Brayden Point, and its top defenseman, Victor Hedman, who were late scratches with lower-body injuries. The Lightning have been missing Mikhail Sergachev since early February (broken leg).
“Tampa’s at the end of a road trip, they played last night, they don’t have Hedman, they don’t have Point, so it’s an opportunity to get a point or two,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “I thought we were skating, but I thought our puck management was poor throughout most of the game until the third period.”
A theme from regulation carried into overtime when a missed opportunity for the Ducks became a golden one for the Lightning. Mason McTavish’s incomplete drop pass during a three-on-one rush transformed into a two-on-none jailbreak for Brandon Hagel and Cirelli, who did not fritter away their chance to nab a second point 59 seconds into overtime.
“They’re waiting for turnovers, they’re waiting for missed opportunities from us and they’re just coming right back at you. I think their transition game is outstanding,” Cronin said. “They’re a good team and they know how to win.”
With 7:27 to play, two rookies nearly connected for a go-ahead goal when Olen Zellweger set up Leo Carlsson in the slot for a redirection, of which Johansson barely got a sliver. Carlsson would test Johansson anew, with a between-the-legs bid and another chance while flanked by the equally engaged Troy Terry and former Bolt Alex Killorn.
Another rookie, Mintyukov, helped the Ducks reset terms with a tying goal off the rush, 2:36 into the closing stanza. Nick Paul lost the puck to Brett Leason in the Ducks’ defensive zone, sending him ahead with speed and a three-on-two rush. Leason dished to Max Jones, who quickly slid the puck to an unmarked Mintyukov, who rifled a wrist shot through Johansson’s five hole for his fourth goal of 2023-24.
Carlsson played Sunday despite a scare in Thursday’s win over Chicago that nearly saw him re-injure his knee.
“I think it might be the first time in, I don’t know how long, that we’ve had the same lineup in back-to-back games,” Cronin said. “When you have that, you’re able to build some chemistry and some rhythm.”
After the Ducks dominated the first period analytically, near misses for the hosts that led to square hits for the visitors defined the middle frame.
With three minutes left in the period, 89 seconds after Jakob Silfverberg shot a near-certain goal into the stick of Duclair within an otherwise wide-open net, Tampa Bay took its first lead of the night.
Ducks defenseman Urho Vaakanainen turned the puck over in the corner of the defensive zone, leading to a sterling redirection chance for Austin Watson. Though Dostál made a strong initial save, Glendening pounced on the rebound.
The tables turned in a similarly abrupt fashion when the Ducks failed to cash in on a two-man advantage that lasted over a minute. Less than a minute later, they were retrieving the puck from the back of their net after a superb effort from Duclair at the 7:50 mark.
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He found a deflected Jackson LaCombe outlet pass in the neutral zone, set up a shot for Nick Perbix and then vanished behind the net, only to reappear at the opposite side to fire a rebound to the far post as Dostál slid into position to cover the near one.
Cronin identified another common thread in the goals, that of getting ostensibly innocuous shots on goal to create a sort of controlled chaos near the net.
“The first goal was a poor-angle shot that hit (Dostál) in the shoulder and ricocheted to the netfront, Duclair scored it. The second goal, poor-angle shot off his pad, (Glendening) was at the goal line, he picked it up and put it in the net,” Cronin said. “I’d be thrilled if our guys would value shots from those angles. We won’t even (shoot) from home plate.”
Johnston, typically known for throwing a punch, stabbed the puck past Johansson with a one-handed deflection of a Silfverberg pass to complete a give-and-go play. The transition tally with 6:11 left was the first period’s only goal. It was Johnson’s first goal as a Duck in his 58th game.
“Our line has a job and that’s to hound pucks. Sometimes you get rewarded and sometimes you get some chilly streaks where you don’t get rewarded, and that’s what I was in,” Johnston said. “It was nice to put one home but, that being said, we just have to keep doing our job.”
