The Anaheim Ducks have been working their way up the east coast this past week and after a dismal loss down in Sunrise have now strung together a couple of good wins.
On Sunday night, the Ducks defeated the tough Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3, in the skills competition.
Ryan Miller got his first chance to don the Ducks sweater and made 34 saves to get the win.
“I was happy to just get going,” Miller said. “I’ve been nervous and anxious for about a month to get moving with the team and start contributing. They gave me this game and I really wanted to get it.”
Corey Perry scored the lone goal in the skills competition to give the Ducks the win.
Miller had to stop a raft of breakaways and quality, close-in shots to get the win.
“As I get closer to game ready, I’m trying to do a lot of breakaways with the guys,” Miller said. “Your gap and your depth on the ice when you’re facing that shooter is kind of critical. It’s something you want to practice when you’re out for a while. It definitely paid off.”
Justin Faulk, Jeff Skinner and Jordan Staal all scored for the Canes in the loss who had a lead late before the Ducks forced extra time.
“You know he saved our butt on numerous occasions. Specifically in overtime and in the second period, [the Hurricanes] took the game over and he was the last man standing there on a few situations that you have to credit him with,” Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle said Miller after the win in the shootout.
Jakob Silfverbergstruck for the Ducks’ game-tying goal with less than five minutes left in regulation.
“It’s been a little bit of a struggle for me so far this year,” Silfverberg said. “I just closed my eyes and tried to shoot it. It wasn’t my best shot, but I think [Darling] was screened by the defenseman, so he had a tough time seeing it.”
The Canes had rallied from an early 2-0 deficit on Anaheim goals from Ondrej Kase and Derek Grant.
“It was a good response in the second. We got back in the game,” Staal said. “But we need to find ways to continue to move forward when we’re up in the third and find ways to bury teams.”
[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Hurricanes highlights]
Scott Darling took the loss on saves.
“We had a team come in off a back-to-back, and we let them kind of dictate the first period. We didn’t play a complete game. Yeah, we got to overtime, but there’s a lot more to the story than just seeing an overtime loss,” Faulk said after the game.
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