Ducks' Anderson stars in 2-1 win over Sens
OTTAWA -- Anaheim Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen was as cool as a cucumber. Not just during his first NHL start, but before and after it as well.
"I don't know if I ever get nervous," the 24-year old goalie said with a shrug. "It's just about being prepared and getting your mental game ready, then doing what you do in practice.
"You don't have to feel nervous at all. You play the game for a living. Just have fun."
Anderson had a blast at Canadian Tire Centre, stopping 26 of 27 shots to spark the Ducks 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Friday night.
The only shot to beat him was off the stick of Mika Zibanejad, a former first-round pick who was playing his second game for the Senators since being recalled from the minors. Zibanejad's blast from the point during a power play at 9:04 of the second period kept the Senators alive on a night Ottawa coach Paul MacLean thought they were clearly the inferior team.
"They're real fast, they're real quick. They didn't give us the time and space to do anything. They were, for the most part I thought, better than we were," said MacLean. "We turned over some pucks in the first period. We turned over pucks all night long. But our goalie gave us an opportunity to get something out of the game and we weren't able to do it."
Senators netminder Craig Anderson played particularly well after the Ducks took a 2-0 lead on goals by Patrick Maroon and Ryan Getzlaf in the first period. Playing on a line with Getzlaf and Corey Perry, Maroon opened the scoring with his second of the season and fourth of his 23-game-old NHL career.
Getzlaf's fourth of the season, which proved to be the winner, was off a gift from Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson at the 17:38 mark.
The former Norris Trophy winner lost the puck as he stepped out from behind the Senators net.
"I didn't even know how it happened, to tell you the truth," said Getzlaf. "Maroon played great tonight, he played great on our line. He went in on a hard forecheck there and caused the turnover. Me and (Perry) each got a hack at it and I was lucky enough to put it in."
The win improved Anaheim's record to 8-3-0 and was the first for the Ducks on an eight-game road trip covering 14 days. They lost the first two games in Toronto and Montreal earlier this week.
"We came out with a strong effort in that first period," said Getzlaf. "It makes a big difference for our group when we can respond after basically two pretty poor games on our behalf."
The Senators were coming off their best game of the season, a 6-1 victory in Detroit on Wednesday. Other than the 26-save performance of Craig Anderson, their bright spot was on the penalty kill. Ottawa survived all five short-handed situations it faced.
"We created chances in the third," captain Jason Spezza said after the Senators slipped to 4-4-2. "We just had some unfortunate bounces there on a couple of good looks from some good players of ours. We couldn't get one by the guy at the end there."
NOTES: Ducks RW Teemu Selanne never got the chance to play in what was scheduled to be his final game at Canadian Tire Centre, as the Ducks stuck to their plan of not dressing the 43-year-old in the second of back to back contests. Selanne, who is retiring at the end of the season, scored the third ever hat trick in the home of the Senators when he netted three on March 22, 1998, in a 5-2 Anaheim win. ... Senators D Jared Cowen was playing in his 100th NHL game. Earlier in the day, he was teased by teammates for being the only player to hold out for a new contract before reaching the century mark. Cowen only missed a few days during camp while waiting for a new deal. ... Entering the night one point shy of his 200th in the NHL was Ducks C Andrew Cogliano, who would have been playing for Ottawa had former Senators LW Dany Heatley not nixed a proposed trade in the summer of 2009. ... Senators D Patrick Wiercioch was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. The 23-year old started the season on Ottawa's second blue line pairing.
