Anaheim Ducks, Getzlaf Hold Off Stars; Take 2-0 Lead
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
After suffering a facial laceration in Game 1 and staying up most of the night celebrating the birth of a newborn baby, most would understand if these factors would have affected the performance of Ryan Getzlaf in Game 2.
They didn’t.
After falling behind 1-0 in the first, Getzlaf scored his second of the playoffs and propelled the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
With the Stars looking to bring the puck up the boards, Getzlaf stole it and had a free pass toward Stars’ goalie Kari Lehtonen and nestled it top shelf to tie the game at 1-1, a huge goal that swung the momentum toward Anaheim as it sprung out to a 3-1 lead heading into the third.
However, the momentum would shift back to Dallas after Ryan Garbutt cut the deficit to one after picking up a loose puck in front of Frederik Andersen and sending it past the rookie with ten minutes to go.
The intensity reached a game-high when Getzlaf was called for tripping with three minutes to left in the contest, but the Ducks’ penalty kill unit stood tall and protected the lead.
An extra attacker for the Stars after Lehtonen was pulled couldn’t pull Dallas even as the Ducks took Game 2.
With the game knotted at one in the second period, Corey Perry tallied his first playoff goal since the 2011 postseason. Perry’s howitzer past Lehtonen gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead and put the orange filled Honda Center into a frenzy.
Andrew Cogliano scored shorthanded early in the third period on a assist from, who else, Getzlaf to give Anaheim an essential insurance goal. Cogliano’s goal was his first of the playoffs and put the Ducks up 3-1.
Andersen followed up his solid Game 1 performance with 34 saves on 36 shots.
It was a physical game from the onset as both teams were knocking each other around from the opening face off. Perry was called for slashing 7:25 into the first period which lead to a power play goal by Alex Chiasson to put the Stars up 1-0.
However, the lead would last for only 10 minutes as Getzlaf would get his squad going with the takeaway and goal.
Anaheim will head to Dallas up 2-0 with Game 3 on Monday night at 6:30 p.m.
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