Anaheim Ducks hold on to beat Edmonton Oilers 3-2
Teemu Selanne lit the lamp twice, as the Anaheim Ducks notched a 3-2 victory over Edmonton Oilers, at Honda Centre on Sunday night.
Luca Sbisa also netted a goal for Anaheim, who have won four of their previous five contests. Curtis McElhinney was strong with 23 saves in the win.
Magnus Paajarvi and Sam Gagner netted goals for the Oilers, who have lost seven of their last eight games against the Ducks, and also registered a 1-4-0 record on their road trip. Nikolai Khabibulin turned aside 25 shots in loss.
Gagner said after the game, "We thought tonight we did a good job of sustaining cycles and keeping the puck in their end. We made it difficult on them."
The Ducks opened the scoring to take a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Sbisa received a long pass at the right face-off circle, and one-timed a screened shot through the traffic into the net.
Anaheim then doubled their advantage with three minutes remaining in the first period. Lubomir Visnovsky received a pass at the blue line and fired a shot toward net. Khabibulin saved it with his glove but Selanne was there to bury the rebound.
Anaheim extended their lead to 3-0 with two and a hald minutes left in the second period. While on a power play, Selanne positioned himself in the slot and Visnovsky's blasted a point shot to the net. Selanne redirected it past the Oilers goalie, seemingly
putting Anaheim firmly in the driver's seat.
However, Edmonton found a way back after two goals from Paajarvi and Gagner in 36 seconds in the dying moments of the period.
Magnus Paajarvi put the Oilers on the board with almost one minute left in the middle stanza. Gagner blasted a shot from the right circle, but McElhinney blocked the shot with his pad. The puck trickled to the left side where Paajarvi collected the rebound
and slipped the disc home to make it 3-1.
McElhinney left the play for three minutes in the middle period after being cut on his neck. Jonas Hiller then took his place and turned away all three shots he faced. McElhinney did manage to return afterwards.
Edmonton crept to within another goal and cut the deficit to 3-2 just 26 seconds later. Gagner knocked the puck into the net with a one-timer from the left circle to beat McElhinney at the stick side.
Oilers Head Coach Tom Renney described his team’s performance by saying, "The power play didn't do what it needed to do again. When you bring a level of intensity to that part of your game, you have a chance. Maybe we learned something there at least. But
we lost the hockey game probably because of it."
Mclhinney shut the door in the final period, turning aside the Oilers’ final 13 shots to preserve Anaheim’s lead. He had to withstand 6-on-3 and 5-on-3 Oilers power plays in the last two minutes en route to a 23-save performance.
An excited McElhinney, in a post match interview, said, “There was a tough penalty-kill the last couple of minutes and a bunch of broken sticks, but guys were blocking shots, making a ton of saves out there and making me look good.”
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