In Anaheim Wednesday it was a night of firsts for the Ducks. Corey Perry scored his first goal of the season, a power play marker with six seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
The goal gave the Ducks their first opportunity to win two straight and they did just that in skills competition, 4-3, over the visiting Florida Panthers.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Perry said. “You stick with it. You keep pushing and you try not to get too frustrated. Finally found a bounce and I had to make the right shot. It’s been a struggle. If you keep getting chances three, four, five games ago, you started getting chances. If you stick with it, it’s bound to go in eventually. I got a lucky bounce tonight.”
There are few reasons to cheer just yet but two straight wins is a good place to start.
“Well, we needed our best players to be our best players,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It was good to see Corey score. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come for him. We’ve still got a couple more guys who could use some goals.
“I don’t know what it said, but it certainly was an important win for us, especially coming from behind, which we hadn’t done all year. Hopefully, it gives them a little bit more confidence going forward.”
Frederik Andersen made 23 saves for the win.
Roberto Luongo had 37 saves in the loss.
“I’m not too happy right now,” Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. “Andersen, in the overtime, made a great save on a 2-on-1 breakaway. Louie made some key saves for us at key times, but in the second period, they took it to us, I thought. Like I said, disappointing to lose a game like that.”
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