Ducks Fall to Blue Jackets in Shootout, 3-2

The Ducks were unable to hold on to beat the Blue Jackets as the Ducks gave up two leads and eventually fell in a shootout Friday night. J.S. Giguere returned to the net and played well but was unable to get his first win of the season after a fast-paced game that ended on a very interesting shot.

The Ducks opened the scoring in the first period on a goal by Bobby Ryan. Just as a Ducks power play expired, Corey Perry skated the puck into the zone and dropped it between his legs for a trailing Ryan Getzlaf. Getzlaf got his head up and whipped the puck across the ice to Ryan, who one-timed it past Mathieu Garon for the first goal of the game.

Rick Nash would tie the score near the end of the period on a turnover in the offensive zone. Nash was cheating at the red line when he got a pass, skated in, and took a slap shot at the top of the right circle to beat Giguere.

The Ducks would regain the lead just as a Getzlaf penalty expired in the second period. Columbus turned the puck over at the offensive blue line and Nick Boynton quickly got the puck up to Getzlaf who had just stepped out of the penalty box. Getzlaf skated into the zone and dished it down the middle for a streaking Todd Marchant who snapped it low for the Ducks’ second goal and lead of the game.

The Blue Jackets would again tie the game, this time less than four minutes later and on the power play. That would cap the scoring for the rest of the game until the shootout.

Kristian Huselius shot first for the Blue Jackets and scored five-hole on Giguere after some fancy stick handling. Getzlaf went next and nicked the post but did not score. Nikita Filatov, who didn’t play much during the game, did not get a good shot away to keep it at 1-0. Perry then had his chance but was unable to convert.

Then Nash took one of the most interesting shots I’ve seen in a shoot out. Nash took the puck wide to the right side and cut back to the center. As Nash tried to slow down, his skate hit a rut in the ice and threw him off balance. Nash tried to maintain his balance while cutting across the ice and made a perfect shot high to Giguere’s blocker side, all with one of Nash’s legs in the air. It was funny and amazing to watch at the same time, and Nash and his teammates laughed as they celebrated their victory.

The Ducks were again shutout on the power play as they went 0-5, but had plenty of chances on the early ones. They are now 0-11 on the power play in their two games on this road trip. Saku Koivu did not play his second straight game as he nurses a groin injury and Ryan Carter was a last minute scratch as he took another shot in the foot in practice. Sheldon Brookbank dressed as a forward for the Ducks but played less than two minutes in the game.

The Ducks will now fly to Detroit to take on the Red Wings tomorrow night in what will be an extremely difficult game for a tired Ducks team. It remains to be seen whether the Ducks will get either Koivu or Carter back as they are sorely missed in the lineup.

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From John Kreiser at NHL.com:

The Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t let the worst home loss in franchise history turn into a losing streak.

Rick Nash scored in regulation and got the clinching goal in the shootout as the Jackets bounced back from a 9-1 loss to Detroit two nights ago with a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.

Kristian Huselius scored on the first attempt in the shootout, and Nash clinched it by beating Jean-Sebastien Giguere in the third round with a spectacular goal — he lost his balance but still was able to roof a shot over Giguere while leaning back on one leg.

“I’m sure he didn’t know what to do,” Nash said. “He thought I was going to fall. Luckily enough I put it in.”

The win helped the Jackets erase the taste of the embarrassing loss to their Central Division rival.

“We rebounded right away,” said coach Ken Hitchcock, whose 1,001st NHL game behind the bench was considerably more enjoyable than No. 1,000. “We played hard and determined.

“We worked a lot harder, and the level of determination was 10 times better than it was against Detroit.”

Antoine Vermette had two assists and Garon stepped in for Steve Mason and stopped 32 shots to win in his first home start.

“I think we kind of knew that it was a bizarre game for us,” center R.J. Umberger said of the loss to the Wings. “That’s not the team we were, we’re better than that. We can’t let our confidence get down, we would’ve not had a good performance tonight. We had to put it behind us.”

Anaheim got goals from Bobby Ryan and Todd Marchant, but couldn’t score in the shootout and lost its fourth in a row on the road. Giguere made 27 saves in his first game since going down with a groin injury on Oct. 24.

“We are desperate for a win on the road,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “I didn’t think we played that poor a hockey game.”

Columbus was assessed a bench minor in OT for having too many men on the ice, but the Ducks — 0-for-11 on the power play in their past two games — failed to convert.

“We missed a chance in overtime when we had the 4-on-3,” Carlyle said. “We didn’t really create much from it. But we will take the point and move on. It’s not easy to win on the road, we had our chance.”

Anaheim took a 1-0 lead 7:55 into the game, six second after a penalty to Jason Chimera expired. Ryan Getzlaf skated down the right wing into the Columbus zone and zipped a cross-ice pass to Ryan for a one-timer from the left dot that beat Garon.

Getzlaf and Corey Perry, who drew the other assist, have scored in 10 consecutive games, the current longest points streaks in the NHL.

Nash tied it at 18:26, breaking in alone and beating Giguere with a slap shot from well into the left circle for his 13th goal of the season and ninth in nine games.

Anaheim went back in front early in the second. After a Columbus power play ended, Getzlaf jumped out of the penalty box, grabbed the puck and fed Marchant for an easy snap shot from the slot at 1:45.

Huselius, back after missing four games with an arm injury, made it 2-2 at 6:15 with a power-play goal. He took a long backhand pass from Vermette and wristed a shot from the left circle over a diving Giguere.

Garon made the save of the night late in the period, robbing Getzlaf with a lunging glove save on a backdoor pass from Teemu Selanne.

The Ducks fell to 0-1-1 on their four-game trip, which continues Saturday in Detroit.

“It’s good, but it depends on what happens the rest of the trip,” Getzlaf said of getting one point. “Anytime you get a point you have to be somewhat happy with it. We have to work hard tomorrow night and if we can get two of three (points) that will be a successful trip.”