In Anaheim Sunday, the Ducks played giveaway for most of the game and Frederik Andersen played the part of a stonewall in keeping the Chicago Blackhawks at bay while his team found its legs.
In the end, the Ducks managed a 4-1 win over the Hawks despite being outplayed at every level for forty minutes.
I thought we had a real good start to the game.  Being down 1-0 after one was a tough spot to be in.  We hadn’t been behind in the last four games,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said after the game. “Second period, I thought we played alright, too.  But at the end, the second goal turned out to be a big goal.  They get the lead.  We put ourselves in a chance in the third with the big goal late.
“Third period, I don’t think we generated much compared to the first two periods. When we’re playing catch-up, it’s not one of our strengths.  At the same time it’s a good hockey team.  We didn’t get to the net as much as we’d like.  Put a lot of pucks into the net, but we got to get more bodies, more traffic.”
Andersen stopped 32 shots for the win and was especially brilliant through the first two periods when the Ducks were playing fast and loose with the puck.
Hampus Lindholm and Kyle Palmieri staked the Ducks to a 2-0 lead until Chicago’s Brad Richards sniped a errant pass from Francois Beauchemin in the Ducks defensive zone and spun and wristed a shot past Andersen to cut the deficit to one goal. Richards’ score came with 40 seconds left in the middle frame.
“A lot of people look at a goal in the last minute of a period and it’s a huge momentum shifter, but we came back into this room very confident and went out and did the job in the third,” Palmieri said, who scored one of two goals by the Ducks’ third line. “There’s going to be some huge ups and downs. I mean [goaltender Frederik Andersen] had a phenomenal game, stood on his head. He made a couple of huge saves. As a whole I think defensively we limited them to a lot of outside chances.”
After the game, Quenneville was asked if his team was ready for Ducks goalie Andersen given their experience with Pekka Rinne and Devan Dubnyk in the first two rounds.
“I think every goalie we talk about; they’re always great goalies at this stage of the game.  They’ve obviously got some excitement to their game,” Quenneville said. “We missed a great look there.  Kaner (Patrick Kane) had a great look early.  He got some excitement to his game.  But I still think that we’re more successful when he has a hard time trying to see through screens and second layers.
“They blocked a lot of shots as well.  We didn’t get some shots through.  I think quicker shot selections, more bodies at the net is your best opportunity to get one and go from there.”
Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau was a bit circumspect in his review of the Ducks’ efforts.
“Well, we weren’t very good in the first period.  We got lucky a few times that they didn’t score a couple goals,” Boudreau observed. “I thought we made a couple of adjustments.  We played better in the second and third.  But I still don’t think it was our A game.  You know, you allow over 30 shots, I mean, we got lucky and scored.  We were opportunistic tonight.  We’re going to have to play better if we want to continue to stay with these guys.”
Nate Thompson, scored Anaheim’s this goal of the of the game midway through the third period and Jakob Silfverberg added an empty-netter with about 90 seconds left in the game to seal the win.
Thompson’s goal came on what seemed a jail break that drove the Chicago net with Andrew Cogliano taking a shot and the rebound missed by Palmieri with Thompson trailing for the easy goal.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Anaheim. The Ducks will need a better start and the Blackhawks will need to figure out how to solve Andersen before heading home for Games 3 and 4.
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