In Raleigh, the Anaheim Ducks were finishing their last leg of a five-game road trip and had just enough offense to go with a suddenly stingy defense to top the Hurricanes, 2-1.
“I don’t think there was a lot of gas left in the tank in a lot of guys,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “This has been a long trip where we’ve gotten into the next town no earlier than 2 a.m. every day. Sometimes wins like this jump start you to play better. That’s what we’re hoping for,”
Goalie John Gibson made 35 saves for the win in his first start since his recall from Norfolk Admirals.
A fight between the Ducks’ Tim Jackman and the Canes Tim Gleason was a spark needed throughout the building but it certainly put some life in the Ducks’ legs for the push to the finish.
“That really turned the tide,” Ducks forward Corey Perry said. “That was probably the perfect time to do it because he got the ball rolling.”
Francois Beauchemin scored minutes after the fight to knot it at one all and Matt Beleskey potted the game-winner at 17:30 of the second period.
From there, Gibson made the lead stand up.
“When you’re in a slump like [ours], you’ve got to go to the net and whack it,” Beleskey said. “I didn’t aim on either of them. I was just trying to hit the puck and they found their way.”
Cam Ward took the loss of 15 saves for the night.
“We quit moving the puck and started skating with it,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. “When you’re skating with it, you’re moving it slower than if you’re [passing] it. As the game went along, guys started doing a bit too much on plays that weren’t there.
“We had a good start, obviously,” Peters said. “We had a false sense of security offensively. Especially in the third, we looked at all our chances and there isn’t a grade-A. The puck speed went away, we started to play slow.”
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