In Raleigh, John Gibson made 51 saves for Anaheim on Saturday, and the Ducks handed the Hurricanes a 3-2 loss.
Anaheim was outshot in the game, 53-15.
“Hard-fought game. I’m pretty tired,” Gibson said. “Pretty good trip overall with five points (2-1-1), but we just have to keep going. Overall, nice to get the win.”
The Ducks moved to 19-34-7 on their second straight win.
“John gives us everything he has each and every night. (He’s a) highly competitive kid,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “I think he showed tonight what kind of impact he can have on a game. That’s a top-three team in the League, if not the top team in the League. We were able to hang in there by a thread.
“You know what you’re coming into (against Carolina) as a team. We’re at the other end of the spectrum, trying to build something similar years from now. We knew, and John knew himself, that he was going to be tested.”
Following a scoreless first period, the Ducks took a 1-0 lead in the middle frame on a marker from John Klingberg.
Jakob Silfverberg extended the Ducks lead to 2-0 in the third period.
The Hurricanes got one back on a strike from Jesperi Kotkaniemi to trim the deficit to 2-1.
“We had [53] pucks on the net, we just hoped a couple more would go in,” Kotkaniemi said. “There’s still some sleepy moments once in a while. We could be a little sharper.”
But Troy Terry scored what would eventually be the game-winner, at 12:01 to make the score 3-1.
“I’m just trying to judge myself on if I’m an impact player or not, and I felt like tonight I was,” Terry said. “I cut into the middle, I was on the backhand, so I tried to get some separation and spin around and shoot it. Even after I spun, I had an idea where the net was, and I was just trying to put it in the upper part.”
The Hurricanes dropped to 39-11-8.
Carolina got that one back on a goal from Jesper Fast at 13:35, but Gibson held the lead for the win.
“It’s hard not to talk about our goalie, first and foremost. He’s one of, if not the best, goalie in the world. You saw that tonight,” Terry said. “It’s natural they’re going to outshoot you. We tried our best to limit in-the-slot shots. It was a game that we had to dig in, even when the shot board said otherwise.”
Use CodePHN15
Frederik Andersen made 12 saves in the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.