Anaheim Ducks Dominate, Cruise to Victory Over Sabres
After failing to make a dent in the scoresheet in his first career NHL game on Saturday, William Karlsson certainly made up for it on Monday afternoon.
Karlsson tallied a pair of goals and Corey Perry potted his fourth of the season as the two forwards led the Anaheim Ducks to a dominating 5-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center.
With the Ducks holding a slim 1-0 lead despite controlling the pace of play, Hampus Lindholm found Karlsson in the high slot. The rookie lost the puck briefly, but regathered and fired it past Sabres netminder Michal Neuvirth for his first career NHL goal. Karlsson’s second of the contest extended the Ducks lead to 4-0 early in the third period which put the game out of reach.
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It became evident early that the Sabres were in for a sloppy, mistake-filled game. Buffalo was called for two penalties within five minutes of the opening face-off and only mustered three shots in the first frame compared to Anaheim’s 17. In all, the Ducks out-shot the Sabres 44-12 and Buffalo failed to establish any offensive pressure throughout the game.
Neuvirth was peppered by the Ducks offense as he allowed five goals on 44 shots. Meanwhile, Ducks netminder Frederik Andersen saw minimal action, stopping 11 of the 12 shots he faced. Tyler Ennis broke through the Andersen wall just over five minutes into the third period as he found an opening on Andersen’s short-side for his second of the season to cut the deficit to three at 4-1.
Perry, who had been shaken up earlier by a cross-check to the face by Zemgus Girgensons, got the Ducks on the board late in the first period with a power play goal at the 15:30 mark. Perry continues to be an excellent source of offense for the Ducks as he has four goals and five points in three games.
Matt Beleskey added a goal for his second of the season and Ryan Kesler converted on a penalty shot midway through the third frame to round out the scoring for Anaheim.
Everything seemed to go the Ducks’ way on Monday, but they could be without forward Patrick Maroon for an extended period of time. Maroon, who has played next to Perry and Ryan Getzlaf on the Ducks’ top line this season, left the game with a lower-body injury after taking a hip check into the boards from Sabres defenseman Josh Gorges. The 26-year-old forward did not return.
With the win, the Ducks improve to 2-1-0 on the young season while the Sabres are still winless at 0-3-0. Anaheim will travel to Philadelphia as it will wrap up its four-game road trip with a tilt against the Flyers on Tuesday night.
Josh Paulisin is an editor for Pucks of a Feather. You can follow him on Twitter.