On Wednesday night, we saw the Anaheim Ducks play the second game of a back-to-back against the Utah Hockey Club. Utah was in a must-win situation, chasing a playoff berth in its inaugural season in Salt Lake City.
Game Recap
Early in this game, you could tell this was the second game in two days for the Ducks. Through the first 20 minutes, Utah had nearly double the shots and double the scoring chances that the Ducks had. Utah opened the scoring on Jack McBain’s 12th goal of the season, which ties his career high. Throughout the remainder of the period, Ville Husso did an excellent job holding Utah to one goal, making 16 saves in the first.
Utah continued dominating the puck early in the second period and extended its lead to two on a goal from Alex Kerfoot six minutes into the period. The goal was created by a tremendous forechecking effort from Barrett Hayton, who kept the puck in the offensive zone and got it back down to Dylan Guenther, who fed Kerfoot, who was left alone in front.
The Ducks finally scored their first goal with five minutes to go in the second period. Utah lost track of Alex Killorn when he jumped off the bench while the Ducks rushed up the ice. This allowed Killorn to walk into the left circle and score a shot that Karel Vejmelka got a piece of, but not enough.
Then, in the third period, the Ducks had two back-to-back powerplays, with Mikhail Sergachev landing himself in the penalty box with four seconds left in the second, then again within 10 seconds of his first penalty ending. Trevor Zegras converted for the Ducks on the second of the two powerplays, tying the game at two.
The game did not stay tied for long as Utah responded on a powerplay chance of their own four minutes later. This combination looked familiar if you’ve watched any amount of Utah hockey this season. Keller swung the puck to Sergachev at the top of the umbrella, who then passed the puck to Guenther, who ripped a shot into the net. With the assist, Sergachev tallied his 300th career NHL point.
Despite a couple of quality chances for the Ducks late in the game and Utah hitting the post on an empty net, the score remained 3-2 for Utah at the final buzzer. This was a big win for Utah, especially considering both the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, the two teams Utah are trying to chase down, were able to pick up points earlier in the night as their matchup in Calgary went to a shootout.
