Anaheim Ducks end goal drought with 4-2 win over New York Islanders - NHL Update
New York Islanders lost 4-2 against Anaheim Ducks on Friday, January 6th, in a game that pitted two of the National Hockey League’s basement teams at the Honda Centre in Anaheim, California.
Both, Islanders and Ducks struggled this season and remain at the bottom of their respective divisions.
New York Islanders' record after this latest loss stands at 14-18-6 and fifth in the Atlantic Division.
Ducks whose offence finally gelled together to put in a good performance improve their record to 11-22-6 and remain fifth in the Pacific Division.
Ducks' Coach, Bruce Boudreau finally had a victory to celebrate and praised his team’s resilience for sticking it out after falling behind in the second period.
"We got mad instead of hanging our heads when we fell behind. You can't play without passion in this league. Tonight we had it and it was channelled in the right direction."
The New York Islanders had their three game winning streak snapped and left wing Matt Martin rued the lost opportunity to put the Ducks in more misery. Talking with reporters after the game Martin said.
"They were obviously going to get out of it eventually, but unfortunately it was against us. We did a good job for two periods, frustrating them and kind of letting them sleep. But then we gave them too much time and space (with the puck) in the third period
and kind of let them build momentum for themselves."
The two sides finished the first period tied with no goals scored and it remained the same for most of the second period with the game bogged down in the middle. The game finally got the first score six minutes from the end of the second quarter with the
Ducks breaking the deadlock.
Bobby Ryan scored a wonderful goal that showed technique and skill to send the Ducks one goal up and end their 12-game goal drought. The Islanders did not lay down for long however, and two minutes later equalised through Matt Martin.
The game took a turn in the third period when the Islanders took the lead for the first time during the game at 6:20. Kyle Okposo did the honours to bring the Islanders up two goals to one.
The Islanders could not maintain their advantage for long as at 9:22 Bobby Ryan stepped up to score his second of the night even though the Ducks were shorthanded during the move. At 12:25 the Ducks took the lead for good with Ryan Getzlaf bringing the score
to 3-2 and Teemu Selanne scored the final goal at 17:06 to give the Ducks a well deserved 4-2 victory.
The Ducks will face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, January 8th and will look to build on their victory over the Islanders who face the Phoenix Coyotes.
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