Anaheim Ducks Post 4-0 Shutout Over Toronto Maple Leafs

The Anaheim Ducks played arguably their best game of the entire season, posting a 4-0 shutout over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The win snapped a series of 11 consecutive one-goal wins at home for the Ducks, who hadn’t won a game by multiple goals since December 13th against the Winnipeg Jets.

Kyle Palmieri got the scoring started just 12:41 into the game. Trevor Smith was sent off for a tripping minor, while Richard Panik was called for a hook, giving the Ducks a full two-minutes of 5-on-3 action. Palmieri took a feed from Hampus Lindholm and fired a shot past Jonathan Bernier, but the play was not deemed a goal. Lindholm eventually fired the puck past Bernier on the following sequence, but upon review, it was confirmed that Palmieri’s shot did hit the back of the net. It was Palmieri’s eighth goal of the season, and the third consecutive time that the Ducks’ second power-play unit scored.

Corey Perry would extend the lead just 5:32 into the second period. Ryan Getzlaf retrieved the puck at the wall, and then passed the puck to Perry, who circled by Stephane Robidas and fired a shot that deflected off the skate of Cody Franson past Bernier to make the score 2-0. It was Perry’s 16th goal of the season.

Perry scored again at the 14:33 mark of the second period. Getzlaf chipped a backhand to a streaking Perry, who got behind the Leafs defense pair of Franson and Dion Phaneuf. Perry, all alone against Bernier, fired his shot past the goaltender to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead. It was Getzlaf’s second point of the night, giving the Ducks captain 47 points on the season, tying him for fifth in the NHL with Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby. Getzlaf now has points in four of five games (one goal, four assists).

Perry would complete his third hat trick of the season with 1:07 left in the game. The Leafs, who had pulled Bernier for the extra attacker, tried to get a shot past Frederik Andersen. However, Clayton Stoner cleared the rebound to Perry, who fired the puck from the defensive zone into the center of the empty net. That gave Perry his 18th goal of the season, moving him past Matt Beleskey for the team’s goal-scoring lead. Beleskey was a healthy scratch for this game. It also gave Andersen his second shutout of the season and for his career (his first coming on October 19th against the St. Louis Blues).

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More than the four goals or the shutout, the Ducks played an outstanding 60 minutes. This was arguably the most complete game that the Ducks had played all season: the only games that come close in terms of pure effort were against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 24th or against the Los Angeles Kings on November 12th (and in the latter game, the Ducks did not have great goaltending, but the skaters carried the team’s effort into a comeback shootout win). The defensive effort was outstanding, as the Ducks prevented the Leafs’ dangerous forwards, such as Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk, from getting and converting chances.

The Ducks also had great success on special teams. The power-play, which had not been very successful in recent games, went 1/2. The second unit has scored the previous three power-play goals. The Ducks also killed all three penalties, all of which involved an important penalty killer being in the box (Ryan Kesler twice, Francois Beauchemin once). The Ducks limited the Leafs to just three shots on goal in three power-play opportunities. Overall, the effort on offense, defense, special teams, and in all three zones was very encouraging. If the Ducks can keep playing games with this type of effort and attention to detail, they will begin to win games more convincingly, rather than squeaking out one-goal wins, as they have done all season.

The next opponent for the Ducks will be the New Jersey Devils, who come to Honda Center on Friday as the final game of the Ducks’ eight-game homestand. The Devils are on their “California road trip”, beginning the trek with a 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. Jaromir Jagr leads the Devils with 16 assists and 25 points, while Mike Cammalleri netted his 14th goal of the season against the Kings, extending his team-leading total.

On the Devils defense, Andy Greene has 11 points (all assists) while playing a team-leading 23:29 per game, but Adam Larsson has come on strong since the firing of Peter DeBoer, playing just under 23:58 per game in the past six contests. The fourth overall pick in 2011 has four assists in that span. Cory Schneider picked up his 15th win of the season against the Kings. Despite his 15-19-4 record, Schneider has a very respectable 2.42 GAA and .919 SV%. The Devils are 4-4-1 since the firing of DeBoer.