In Tampa Tuesday, the Anaheim Ducks got a solid effort from across the bench and defeated the Lighting, 3-1.
Ryan Miller made 34 saves to get the win.
“We did some things well early and got out of the first period 0-0,” Miller said. “They’ve been scoring 3-4 goals in the first for a while. Third period, we had that zone time and made it count.”
The teams were tied headed in the third and the Ducks broke it open when Nick Ritchie and Carter Rowney struck for goals just 48 seconds apart.
“We understand that we have more competitiveness in our hockey club than we displayed in our last game (a 5-2 loss at the Nashville Predators on Sunday) and we had to demonstrate that,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “They’ve got so much offensive power that if you’re not in good defensive position and you don’t win your share of the battles they can embarrass you.”
Brayden Point scored the lone Bolts’ goal.
“We had 35 shots and doubled their scoring chances, I thought the boys played pretty well,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Anaheim is a big team and they can skate. They nullified a few things for us with their size down low, and Ryan Miller played outstanding. He was probably the difference in the game.”
Josh Manson also scored as the Ducks improved to 11-10-5.
“We were in good spots and I thought we stayed pretty tight,” Miller said. “Even on that 6-on-4, we had two and three guys in the corners and we won those battles. It was good to see.”
The Ducks have won three of their last four games.
“They had their chances, but we capitalized on ours. This shows us we can play with teams if we play the right way and come in with a solid effort and play smart,” Manson
said.[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Lightning highlights]
Louis Domingue made 19 saves in the loss.
“I thought the first two periods, it was a back-and-forth game,” the Lightning’s Ryan Callahan said. “We had a lot of time in their end in the second and couldn’t bury some of our chances. They get that one off the glass and another one on the next shift … those were pretty big.”
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