Ryan Getzlaf Surges Anaheim Ducks To Seventh Straight Win
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
With one game left on their seven game home stand, and with an eight game, two week long road trip looming, the Anaheim Ducks finished off a perfect home stand with a 6-3 victory over the Dallas Stars.
Leading the way was captain Ryan Getzlaf, whose four point night helped spark the team when it seemed like they could have been heading towards their first loss since the season opener.
After a Teemu Selanne power play goal put his team up 1-0, the Stars scored three goals in a row to finish the period ahead 3-1.
Needing to find a way to spark his team, coach Bruce Boudreau made a goalie change, benching Jonas Hiller for rookie Frederik Anderssen, the first bit of playing time of his young career.
The move put the Ducks into another gear, reeling off five straight goals, including three in the second period. In the end Corey Perry would score twice, Emerson Etem scored his first career shorthanded goal, Getzlaf, and Mathieu Perreault would be apart of the Ducks onslaught in the second and third.
Anderssen saved all 24 shots he faced, earning a win in his first career appearance after the Ducks let the Hiller off the hook. After a seven game home stand, the Ducks will now play the next eight on the east coast beginning with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Other Game Notes:
-Dustin Penner had to helped off the ice after a scary moment in which he took a shot to the head and appeared to momentarily be knocked unconscious. He did not return and it will likely be safe to say he will be out for some time.
-Anderssen wasn’t the only goalie making his debut, as Stars’ goalie Jack Campbell made his first career start. It will be a start he will like to remember quickly for the former first round pick. Campbell was team USA’s starting goaltender for the 2010 World Junior Championships, where he led his country to the Gold medal. Ducks prospect John Gibson was the goaltender in USA’s most recent World Junior Championship Gold medal winning team.
-The two power play goals doubled the team’s total from the entire season thus far.