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Final Score: Ducks 3, Devils 4
First Period Recap: The Ducks caught a huge break early, when a Devils point shot through lots of traffic went through Hiller's legs but luckily caught the inside of his skate and deflected harmlessly into the corner.
The Ducks got the first power play chance as Adam Larsen caught Matt Beleskey with an elbow as the Duck chipped and chased. Half way through Brodeur made a great reactionary save on Ryan Getzlaf, clicking his heels together just in time to stop the puck from going in. After that the Devils didn't allow the Ducks to play in the offensive zone for the rest of the PP.
Hiller got lucky again after a strong offensive shift by the Devils as another puck went right through Hiller's legs and into the corner. To be fair though, that one wasn't even really on net.
The Ducks opened the scoring at 11:31 with a beautiful drop pass from Hampus Lindholm to Matt Beleskey at the blueline, counter to their previous strategy of dumping every puck in, and he just wired it on net. Brodeur got a piece but it squeezed between the future Hall of Famer's arm and body.
Shortly after, Corey Perry was sent off for hooking Travis Zajac on his way to the net. Not a bad penalty to take. The Devils weren't able to do much on the PP and, like the Ducks, spent the better part of the second minute in their own zone. Perry went on a partial breakaway fresh out of the box, and got a good shot off, but it was taken away by the glove hand of Brodeur.
With five minutes left in the period, Teemu Selanne was called for high sticking Andy Greene. The problem is that it was the stick of Marek Zidicky that hit Greene because Mathieu Perreault had lifted it. Not only that, Greene was cut on the play and Teemu got four minutes for the phantom high stick.
To add salt on the wound, Zidlicky scored on the power play. Third time was the charm for the Devils getting a shot through Hiller's legs. It was a nice pass low to high from Patrick Elias, but without a screen or a tip, Hiller needs to stop that one.
And that's not all, with 38 seconds left in the second part of the double minor Michael Ryder looked off Adam Henrique's pass in the slot and it got through to a wide open Eric Gelinas, who one timed it over the glove of Hiller to give the Devils a 2-1 lead.
Second Period Recap: Early in the second the Ducks got their second power play of the game, as Gelinas high sticked Corey Perry and they went up 5-on-3 when Devante Smith-Pelly was hooked by Peter Harrold on a center lane drive as he went in on the rush with Teemu. Both penalties could be called marginal (and were by Bryan Hayward on the broadcast) but well deserved by comparison.
Having said that, Nick Bonino tied the game up with the two man advantage. Cam Fowler's shot from the top of the circle bounced off of Dustin Penner in front of the net and right to Bones who got it from his skate to his stick and slipped it through Broudeur's five hole, leaving the Ducks with 1:41 on the power play.
Most of that remaining power play was spent trying to get the puck back into the Devils end with really sloppy passing, but Teemu had two quality opportunities. The first was off of a New Jersey turnover, that allowed Teemu time and space, but his shot was deflected out of play. The second was even better as he hopped on a rebound at the side of the net and had the full 4x6 to shoot at. BUT, he shot the rolling, bouncing puck wide on the far side, underneath a diving Brodeur. Gotta score that Teemu!
A few minutes later the Ducks caught another break as Hampus Lindholm fell down in the middle of the ice, all by his lonesome, allowing Danius Zubrus to go in alone on Hiller. He had the Ducks goalie beat, but rang it off the post.
The Ducks were in full control of the second period and had another gaping net chance, this time for Ryan Getzlaf. He brought the puck right into the crease off of the boards. Brodeur dove for the poke check, and Getzy got around him with a little hop and a skip, but somehow pulled the puck just wide of the even WIDER open net. COME ON! HOW DOES THAT NOT GO IN!?!?
With about five minutes left in the period, New Jersey iced the puck and Etem did a good job to help win the faceoff and take the puck right to the net, drawing a hooking penalty. On the second shift of the PP, Penner made a between the legs pass from the side of the net to Getzlaf at the point who just unloaded on it with Perry making a pest of himself in front to make it 3-2. PPG in every sense of the term and redemption for Captain Duck.
Perreault and Teemu went in on a 2-on-1 late in the period, but Greene played it perfectly, blocking the pass from MP to Teemu. Aside from the wide open miss, Teemu looked really good in this period. Lots of jump in his step, slick passes, just couldn't finish (ironically).
After being dominated for the entire second stanza (outshot 11-3), the Devils put in a dangerous final shift, but the period ended 3-2 in favor of the Ducks. On a sour note, Francois Beauchemin left the game in the middle of the period and did not return. The latest from Eric Stephens:
All BB would say regarding Francois Beauchemin is that he was looked at by team doctors and that he's "day to day".
— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) November 21, 2013
Third Period Recap: Right off the opening faceoff of the third, Dustin Penner went to the box for hooking Jaromir Jagr. New Jersey managed four shots on the power play, but that makes it sound worse that it was; a relatively easy kill for the Ducks.
The power play did seem to give the Devils momentum though, as the Ducks weren't able to do much more than clear the zone for changes for the next couple of minutes. It was fine while they were shorthanded, but once they got back to full and even strength, you hope for a little more. On the bright side, Hiller tightened up his game to start the third.
About seven and a half minutes into the period, the Ducks still didn't have any shots on goal, but Perry had a very close chance, deflecting an incredibly well placed, strong backhand pass from Getzlaf over the net and out of play.
The Ducks were sitting back way too much in this period, especially with only a one goal lead. Lindholm finally got the Ducks' first shot of the period with just under six and a half minutes left.
For the third period in a row, a penalty was called almost right on the 15 minute mark. This time it was Gelinas for hooking Perry after a bad Devils turnover in the neutral zone. It was a horrible power play for the Ducks. They seemed content to just burn the two minutes off of the clock. However, they got a really good shift from the line of Winnik, Etem and Cogliano (with a little help from DSP) following the PP, which looked like it would be able to keep Brodeur on the ice.
The Devils did eventually clear, and tied the game as soon as they got the extra attacker. Patrick Elias got the puck from behind the net to Jagr at the top of the crease with 61 seconds left, and off to overtime we went.
Overtime Recap: A minute into the extra session, the Devils turned it over in their own zone. Lindholm's shot from the point went off of Brodeur's far pad, the rebound went right to Etem, who deflected it back across the crease to Perreault. It looked like he had all day with the empty net, but Perreault couldn't handle the pass quick enough. He eventually went between his own legs with the shot, but by that time Brodeur had dived back to get his glove in the way for a spectacular game saving save.
Lindholm, Getzlaf and Perry got an opportunity on the rush on their next shift, but all three got caught behind the play as the Zubrus and Zajac took it the other way on a 2-on-1 against Ben Lovejoy. Zubrus got the puck to Zajac, but Lindholm did an amazing job to get back and tie his stick up so he couldn't get the shot off. The puck laid in the crease for Lovejoy to sweep away, but as he did Perry came back and Lovejoy's clearing attempt banked off of Perry into the net. Devils win 4-3.
UN-F***NG-BELIEVABLE
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The Good: A dominant second period with two power play goals was great, but there was a lot to be disappointed about in this game.
The Bad: Missed opportunities. Three times in this game the Ducks had WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE open nets to shoot at and couldn't put it away. Regardless of anything else, the Ducks could have won this game easily if they scored any one of those.
Also they were kind of asking for overtime with that ultra passive third period.
The Ugly: This is a really tough one. How do you choose between a double minor for a friendly fire high stick that resulted in two goals and an overtime own goal? Trick question, you don't. Those were equally ugly, and equal parts of why the Ducks lost this game.
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Next Game: Friday, November 22 at 7:00 pm, vs Tampa Bay Lightning