Getzlaf scores OT winner as Ducks edge Lightning
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- If hockey were baseball, Friday night's game between the Anaheim Ducks and visiting Tampa Bay Lightning was the proverbial pitcher's duel.
Both goaltenders stood on their heads, keeping their respective teams in the game and hopeful of getting a win.
With the dust settled, Anaheim came away with a 1-0 overtime win and pushed its home record to 9-0-1 this season. Center Ryan Getzlaf capped off a tense evening when he managed to score the game winning goal with only 5.2 seconds remaining in the extra session.
His five game-winning goals this year lead the NHL.
"I just knew there wasn't much time left," said Getzlaf, as he began to describe the pandemonium that took place around the Tampa Bay crease as overtime was coming to an end. "So I just wanted to go on one last rush and get one on net. I ended up getting two cracks at it and managed to get it over the shoulder, and I kind of blacked out after that."
The Lightning are now on their way back to Tampa Bay after a disastrous road trip that saw them go 0-4, losing to Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Jose and Anaheim.
After being outscored 16-6 in their previous three games, a scoreless game after 60 minutes was a welcome reprieve for Lightning coach Jon Cooper, despite coming out on the losing end.
"It's why the game is great. There's 10 seconds left in the game, one team is going on the rush one way and the puck ends up in the net the other way, " he said. "What comes around goes around. At some point this year that bounce will go our way. It just didn't go tonight."
Goaltender Jonas Hiller was perfect in net for the Ducks, stopping all 31 shots he faced.
It was his second shutout of the season and 18th of his career.
Even so, he was more excited to talk about the heroic performance of his captain.
"He's a leader through and through. He pretty much picked up the puck in our end and you could see in his body language he really wanted it. He battled his way through and didn't give up on the first shot, buried a rebound."
The Ducks dominated the opening frame, outshooting Tampa Bay 16-8 and held the opposition to just two shots over the final 14 minutes of the period.
Getzlaf had a short-handed breakaway just minutes after the opening faceoff, but was denied by goaltender Ben Bishop. Minutes later, right winger J.T. Brown broke in 2-on-1 on Hiller, only to be stoned by the Anaheim netminder.
The Ducks took several atypical penalties throughout the night, including center Andrew Cogliano being whistled for spraying snow on Bishop. Officials later sent center Nick Bonino to the box after he embellished a bit too much following a penalty on Tampa Bay center Tyler Johnson for hooking. Defenseman Bryan Allen added to the weirdness when he was called for closing his hand on the puck.
Similar to the game's opening minutes, spectacular goaltending at both ends of the ice was on display in the second period. With defenseman Cam Folwer in the box for tripping, Hiller had to make a huge glove save on a blast from center Alex Killorn.
At the other end, Bishop was equally impressive, stopping a short-handed shot from Cogliano. He made 42 saves total on the night.
"I didn't think anybody was going to score on those goalies," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "That was probably as good a goaltending display from both goaltenders I've seen in a very long time."
NOTES: Anaheim G Jonas Hiller was a last-minute add to the Ducks line-up, as G Viktor Fasth was the announced starter. Anaheim officials said Fasth was being evaluated for a lower-body injury and he's expected to be out for at least the next few days. ... Both teams made roster moves prior to the game, as Anaheim placed D Francois Beauchemin (upper body) on injured reserve and recalled D Sami Vatanen from the AHL Norfolk Admirals. ...Tampa Bay sent rookie RW Brett Connolly back to AHL Syracuse after he only scored one goal over 10 games since being called up Oct. 31. ... Recently inducted Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Niedermayer was honored in a pre-game ceremony and dropped the first puck. ... Lightning coach Jon Cooper elected to go with only 11 forwards, adding Andrej Sustr as a seventh defenseman.
