In Edmonton Monday night, the Anaheim Ducks were hoping to end their road trip on a better note and they managed a 2-1 win over the Oilers.
John Gibson was solid in net in making 27 saves including several stellar stops to keep the Oilers at bay.
“I felt good, I thought I was seeing the puck pretty good and when there were rebounds, my guys helped me out and cleared them out of the way,” Gibson said. “I think we played a good game. They’re a good team at home and we knew they were going to have a good push at the end and they did, and I think we did a good job of shutting them down.”
Corey Perry scored on Ducks first shot to help Anaheim win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Corey Perry and Brandon Pirri scored for the Ducks who built a 2-0 lead.
“I thought we were resilient, but we were pretty sloppy tonight and we looked a little tired,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It was a good win for us to have at the end of a long road trip, allowing only one goal. They missed some opportunities, but [Gibson] was the difference in the game.”
Nail Yakupov had the lone Oilers goal but was robbed at least twice by Gibson.
“I thought we gave everything we had tonight,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “You don’t like to throw out a lot of accolades when you lose because the name of the game is winning and sending the fans home happy, but I thought tonight’s game was a very competitive one against a good team.
“I thought we had enough chances and looks around the net to win the game and didn’t give up a lot. Gibson made some big saves. We had some good scoring chances. I’m not sure that team has given up that much in a long time. Their goalie played well.”
Cam Talbot made 23 saves in the loss.
Perry opened the scoring in the first on their first shot on goal.
“I just tried to pick my spot on the goalie,” Perry said. “When I picked my head up coming over the blue line, I saw the goalie coming over and it’s a tough shot to stop when it’s about 13 inches above the ice.”
Yakupov was derided much of the game by Oilers fans for comments attributed to him in Russian media for requesting a trade out of Edmonton.
“I think the day affected him,” McLellan said. “I think the [negative] response from the fans affected him. Once he got into the game, he played a little better as the night went on.”
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