Down but not out, Ducks dethrone Kings on Black Friday

In what has become an annual Black Friday tradition, the Anaheim Ducks faced off against the Los Angeles Kings, for the first time this season. The Ducks rallied late to come from behind to secure the win by a final score of 5-4, on the back of some key saves and clutch goals.

Down on the roster sheet...

The news went from bad to worse for the Ducks, prior to puck drop against the Kings. Originally, Lukas Dostal was ruled out of the Ducks' last game against the Vancouver Canucks and was listed as day-to-day. However, the situation worsened since and Dostal was listed out for 2-3 weeks with an upper body injury, according to the Ducks. Potentially without their number one goalie for up to 10 games is not ideal for the Ducks, who will have to lean on the backup tandem of Petr Mrazek and Ville Husso, in Dostal's absence.

and down on the scoreboard...

In what has become another frustrating tradition for the Ducks, the opposition was spotted an early lead, again. This time, it was Alex Laferriere of the Kings who profited, scoring the first goal of the game. In 24 games so far this season, the Ducks have allowed the opposition to score the first goal in 16 of those games.

For large stretches of the game, the Ducks looked slow against the Kings. Maybe the Ducks ate too much food on Thanksgiving or the Kings stifling neutral play limited the rush chances, but whatever the cause, the Ducks were unable to play their up-tempo, rush attack style. Coupled with Husso allowing a pair of goals he would probably want back, and the Ducks were sputtering.

but not out.

And queue the rally magic. The recently begrudged Pavel Mintyukov pulled the Ducks within a goal, about halfway through the third period. Beckett Sennecke hit Mintyukov with a pass in the slot, which Mintyukov fumbled with in his skates, before firing the puck in the net.

With Husso pulled for the extra attacker, Jackson Lacombe found an open Leo Carlsson lurking near the King's net, who snapped the puck home to tie the game.

Husso redeemed himself late, stopping a glorious scoring chance from Adrian Kempe, with about 35 seconds left in the third period.

Overtime was quite eventful, with each team having multiple scoring chances and Husso redeeming himself further with a sprawling toe save to keep the Ducks alive. And of course, the game had to go to a shootout.

Troy Terry converted on his shootout attempt, going 5-hole on Darcy Kuemper, who surprisingly dropped his blocker as Terry was making his move.

Mason McTavish ended the game, by going 5-hole on Kuemper as well.

With the win, the Ducks retained first place in the Pacific Division and gave themselves a little bit of breathing room on the teams behind them in the standings. For once though, it would behoove the Ducks to play with a lead and not have to rally late. The Ducks will get their chance against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.