In Denver, Rickard Rakell struck with less than two seconds left in extra time Thursday night to give the Anaheim Ducks a 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche.
“I remember everybody was yelling at me to shoot the puck,” Rakell said. “I just tried to do something quick there and get a shot off and it was nice to see it go in. We’re absolutely going to take these two points and enjoy it.”
Rickard Rakell scored the OT winner for the Ducks – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Ryan Miller made 32 saves for the Ducks.
“We talked about just staying together and trying to have a group in whatever zone we were in,” Miller said. “I thought the guys did a good job tonight working together.”
Gabriel Landeskog and Vladislav Namestnikov scored for the Avs, and Nathan MacKinnon forced extra time when he knotted the game up at 3-3.
“Nate’s been a real good team guy,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. “You understand that it’s going to come for him. The team’s still winning, but you know it will wear on you eventually, so I like to see him get rewarded for playing hard, playing well.”
Andrew Agozzino, Sam Steel and Brendan Guhle scored for the Ducks in regulation.
“As [Rakell] was coming by the bench, our whole bench was counting the clock for him,” Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins said. “As he was coming up the ice, it was the whole bench literally an orchestra of 6, 5 … they were counting it down. … The communication there obviously helped, but he’s a smart shooter. He’s really struggled to score as of late. It’s been wearing on him. To see him get rewarded like that, especially in overtime, those goals are special. We’re elated for him.”
[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Avalanche highlights]
Pavel Francouz made 26 saves in the loss.
“They ended up getting the two (points), we’ll take the one and turn the page,” Bednar said. “I thought we could have used a little puck luck. I liked what we were creating, I liked what we were giving up, too, actually, through the first two periods. We needed to capitalize on a couple of those chances, even in overtime. I thought Miller played real well for them.”
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