In Montreal, the Ducks’ Troy Terry and John Klingberg hit for goals 28 seconds apart in the first period to give Anaheim a 2-0 lead in their match with the Canadiens on Thursday night.
Klingberg had a double in the win,
Well, that lasted as long as it took Cole Caufield to hit for a double in the third period to knot the game at 2-2.
“We still didn’t sustain a full 60 (minutes) for me, but we sustained much more than we have been,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “You know when you’re a team like we are right now in a kind of full rebuild mode it is tough to sustain it, but that’s our goal every night. … I do think we’re better than our record, but our record is our record and we own it. So I did like how we played overall. I’d still like a couple of those five, six-minute spurts back as well.”
The Ducks recovered from the curse of the 2-0 lead, and scored three straight to take a 5-2 win and stop a nine-game schneid.
“We’ve got such a good group in here, we’re so connected and so tight that I mean at this point nothing really rattles us,” Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras said. “We know where we’re at and we just kind of stick together in these situations, and obviously that Klingberg goal was a big one.”
Lukas Dostal made 23 saves in the Anaheim win.
“When it was 2-2, I still believed in the guys,” Dostal said. “We were dumping the puck, we were in their zone a lot in the third period. … I just felt that we were going to get it tonight.”
The Ducks improved to 8-20-3.
Klingberg completed his double after the Habs tied in the third, his goal restored the lead at 3-2.
The Habs dropped to 14-14-2.
“It’s our job, you’ve got to come to work ready to go no matter what,” Caufield said. “Even if it was a back to back, traveling last night, we had the things to take care of ourselves. So, there’s no reason for us to come out flat like we did tonight.”
Anaheim’s Adam Henrique and Frank Vatrano hit empty-net goals in the last 88 seconds for the 5-2 final.
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Jake Allen made 27 saves in the Canadiens loss.
“They’re struggling, but anyone can beat anyone in this league,” Allen said. “But we definitely wanted to get one of the two here in this back to back, and we’re going to have a big test against the [Tampa Bay] Lightning (on Saturday) before we hit the road before Christmas. So, regroup and hope we bring our A-game Saturday.”
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