Ducks @ Bruins RECAP: Point Streak? What Point Streak?

The Anaheim Ducks were looking to kick off their five-game road trip on a positive note as they traveled to Boston to take on the Bruins at TD Garden on Tuesday night. The Bruins were riding an 18-game point streak, and the Ducks were able to put an end to that with a regulation 3-1 win to kick off their road trip with a massive two points.

Here is a period-by-period breakdown of how the Ducks were able to secure the victory and hold the dynamic Bruins offense to just a single goal.

1st Period:

The 1st period opened with the Ducks immediately going on the penalty kill due to a Ryan Kesler minor penalty to give the Bruins a power play chance early. Fantastic.

The Bruins penalty kill posed very little threat to the Ducks penalty kill and the teams returned to even strength no worse for wear. The Bruins controlled the majority of the possession for the first five minutes of the game, but chances were fairly close to even.

The Ducks would open the scoring with 10:56 remaining in the opening period off of a pinball shot that bounced off of Anton Khudobin, then off of Jakob Silfverberg, then off of Zdeno Chara, and then in. Yep, think I got everyone. 1-0 Ducks!

The Ducks power play delivered through Adam Henrique, who stayed red-hot, extending his point streak to 6 games (5G, 2A). A promising start for the special teams for the Ducks, who have looked streaky throughout the season. 2-0 Anaheim!

Boston regained a bit of the momentum in the waning minutes of the period, turning up the pressure and finding scoring chances in the Anaheim zone. However, the Ducks defense stood strong, blocking a lot of shots and making smart plays to clear the puck out of dangerous areas.

The first period came to a close with the Ducks leading the Bruins 2-0, with shots on goal favoring Anaheim by a count of 15-5.

2nd Period:

The 2nd period would open with the Ducks getting another power play opportunity, through Frank Vatrano sitting for delay of game.

This power play would be negated with only 16 seconds remaining on it, as Antoine Vermette would sit for holding. The 4-on-4 was short-lived and the Bruins were onto the power play.

The Anaheim John Gibson’s would hold very strong on the penalty kill, with the rest of the Ducks pulling up a chair and some popcorn to watch John Gibson be the superhero that he has been all season long.

The period remained largely uneventful for the most part, save for the Ducks taking a penalty with exactly a minute remaining in the period. This time, Hampus Lindholm was the culprit for interference.

The period ended with the Ducks 2-0 lead remaining intact, with shots on goal still favoring Anaheim by a count of 19-18.

3rd Period:

John Gibson started the period with a scare for Ducks fans, as he made a save and then appeared to be injured just 33 seconds in. Luckily for Anaheim, he stretched it out and appeared to be okay as he chose to stay in the game.

The Bruins controlled a majority of possession and shot attempts once again through the first eight minutes or so of the 3rd period, but John Gibson remained a brick wall, despite the injury he was dealing with.

With 7:24 left in regulation, John Gibson decided that he could not continue playing with the injury he had sustained, and Ryan Miller took over in the crease for him. He was forced to make an immediate save with 6:51 remaining in regulation, and it was a dandy to keep the score at 2-0 in favor of the Ducks.

Nick Ritchie made a very dangerous play with a late, high hit against David Backes, because c’mon, you didn’t think this whole game was going to finish without Ritchie doing something stupid, right?

Zdeno Chara decided that losing made him really salty, and since he didn’t like that hockey was a physical sport, he was going to try to fight Ryan Getzlaf after a late hit on Adam Henrique. Somehow, Rickard Rakell got an extra two from it, giving the Bruins a power play opportunity with just under three minutes remaining in regulation.

The Bruins would get on the board with 40.7 seconds to go to cut the Ducks lead to 2-1. Ryan Spooner fired a seeing eye shot from the high slot towards the net, and it may have caught a deflection on the way in, but in any case, the Bruins were within one.

Adam Henrique hit the empty net with 6.1 seconds left to seal the deal and ice the game for the Anaheim Ducks. An absolutely massive 3-1 victory for the Ducks over the Bruins, and a huge two points for the standings.

The Ducks will be back in action on Thursday night when they continue their road trip in Ottawa against a struggling Senators team.