Well that was a fun, hard fought game that was a lot closer than the score makes it appear to be. One of the highlights of the night was when Kent Huskins scoring his first NHL goal. Other than that it was a powerplay filled game where the game seesawed back and forth until the second half of the third period. Well you can read and see coverage of the game in the links below.
Photo of the game
Anaheim Ducks Official Coverage
By Adam Brady
AnaheimDucks.comThe Ducks scored three in the third to surge past Detroit.
ANAHEIM – After failing to find the net the night before, the Ducks found plenty of ways to dent it Monday night against Detroit.
Samuel Pahlsson broke a 3-3 tie with 10:58 remaining in the final period on a shorthanded goal, and Corey Perry and Sean O’Donnell added insurance as the Ducks took down Detroit, 6-3 in front of a sellout crowd of 17,174 at Honda Center.
Rob Niedermayer set up the Pahlsson goal by stripping Brian Rafalski of the puck at the blue line during a Detroit power play. Niedermayer then made a nice pass to Pahlsson on a 2 on 1 and Pahlsson connected top shelf past charging Wings goalie Dominik Hasek.
Rob Niedermayer stole the puck and fed Pahlsson for the eventual game-winning goal.
The goal was the first of the season for Pahlsson, who missed the season’s first five games while recovering from sports hernia surgery. It also put Pahlsson second on the Ducks all-time list of shorthanded goals with seven. (Paul Kariya is the career leader with 16.)
With the Ducks clinging to a 4-3 lead, Corey Perry gave them much-needed insurance on the power play with 4:40 remaining. Chris Pronger’s rocket of a slap shot from the point caromed off Hasek right to Perry, who easily punched it in the net.
The Perry goal was the second for the Ducks on 11 power plays on the night.
Sean O’Donnell capped things off with the Wings on the power play, grabbing a loose puck in the slot in front of the net and sending it the length of the ice, where it slowly rolled in the net with five seconds remaining.
Read the rest here - Link
ESPN has a their report on the game - Link
The OC Register coverage of the game
Kent Huskins scored the first goal of his NHL career, and Samuel Pahlsson added a shorthanded goal in the third period to lead the Ducks to a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night at the Honda Center.
Huskins gave the Ducks an early 1-0 lead at 1:56 in the first period when he flipped the puck behind Dominik Hasek's back. The Detroit goaltender tried to swat it down with his glove, but he missed. Huskins' goal came 23 seconds after Nicklas Lidstrom was sent to the penalty box for holding, turning a Red Wings power play into a four-on-four situation.
Detroit's Kris Draper evened the score, 1-1, at 6:39 in the first, scoring his fifth goal of the season after taking a pass from Dan Cleary, who set up the scoring opportunity when he picked up a loose puck deep in the Ducks' zone and skated the length of the ice with it
Read the rest here - Link
The LA Times coverage of the game
Samuel Pahlsson scored a tiebreaking, short-handed goal with 10:58 left in the third period to lead the Ducks to a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings tonight at the Honda Center.
Kent Huskins notched his first NHL goal four months after winning his first Stanley Cup ring.Andy McDonald, Chris Kunitz, Corey Perry and Sean O'Donnell scored for Anaheim and Ryan Getzlaf had three assists.
Kris Draper, Henrik Zetterberg and Brian Rafalski scored for the Red Wings, who returned to Anaheim for the first time since being eliminated from the playoffs in game 6 of the Western Conference finals.
Rob Niedermayer chipped the puck away from Rafalski just inside the Anaheim blue line and took of on a 2-on-1 break with Pahlsson, who beat Dominik Hasek from close range for his seventh career short-handed goal and a 4-3 lead.
Tomas Holmstrom was assessed six minor penalties, including a tripping infraction that resulted in Perry's power-play goal with 4:40 remaining.
Trailing 3-1, the Red Wings tied it on goals by Zetterberg and Rafalski less than 2 minutes apart in the second period against Ilya Bryzgalov. Rafalski, who helped New Jersey win two Stanley Cups before joining Detroit as a free agent in July, got the equalizer at 13:36 of the period during a 5-on-3 power play.
Draper extended his goal-scoring streak to a career-best five games, and Zetterberg extended his to four. Draper, Zetterberg and Holmstrom have combined to score 15 goals this season.
Kunitz put Anaheim ahead 2-1 at 9:31 of the first period, converting a rebound of Chris Pronger's 40-foot slap shot during a power play. The assist was Pronger's 400th in the NHL.
McDonald extended Anaheim's margin to 3-1 at 5:14 of the second with his first goal of the season. It came on a 40-foot wrist shot that changed direction off the stick of Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall and fluttered over Hasek's glove.Read the rest here - Link
TSN Coverage
Playing home games on consecutive nights against teams they eliminated from the playoffs last season presented the defending champion Anaheim Ducks with a stiff challenge, considering how depleted their roster is.
They were happy to come out of it with a satisfying split.
Samuel Pahlsson scored a tiebreaking short-handed goal with 10:58 left in the third period to lead the Ducks to a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.
And it wasn't easy. Todd Bertuzzi was out with a concussion, Todd Marchant was sidelined with a bruised right ankle, and injured defenceman Mathieu Schneider is still at least two weeks away. Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who made his season debut in Sunday's 2-0 loss to Minnesota, is not yet able to play consecutive games - and Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer are still contemplating retirement.
"We were short-staffed. It's not easy to replace those people in your lineup, but it's a situation where other people have an opportunity to play more and others to step up," coach Randy Carlyle said.
Read the rest here - Link
MVN Analysis of the game
Monday morning broke gray, dreary, and damp from an intermittent drizzle. The Ducks did not wake up feeling much cheerier. After yesterday’s unsuccessful efforts against the Minnesota Wild, the Ducks spent much time reflecting on what is going wrong with their team. On a positive, Jean-Sebastien Giguere returned to his goaltending duties and looked good. The fights were decent, although in Brad May’s words, “fights are better in a winning effort.” The Ducks certainly had plenty of shots on goal, especially in the first two periods. So what is going wrong with this team that seems a far cry from the Ducks of last season? In a word - chemistry and line-shifting.
The Ducks lost Teemu Selanne to seeming retirement (if only he’d make it official), and Dustin Penner to an insanely unjustified and overpaid contract from the Oilers. Todd Bertuzzi came on board to help offset the potential loss of Selanne. Other minor players were brought in and there was hope for the prospects, primarily second overall pick, Bobby Ryan. With Selanne’s loss, the top line of Andy McDonald and Chris Kunitz were left with a wide hole. Bertuzzi is not fast enough to be on that line. He seems better suited to take Penner’s place on the second line with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. However, no chemistry seems to be happening between any of the varied line combinations that coach Randy Carlyle has tried out this year. McDonald is without a goal in seven games. Bertuzzi is out for at least a week on the injured reserve with a concussion. The third line is intact now that Sami Pahlsson has returned to linemates Rob Niedermayer and Travis Moen. They don’t score enough to make a difference. George Parros is good at fighting, but if you expect him to fill in the missing offense, you are going to be greatly disappointed.
So what to do? Regroup, suck it up, and keep on persevering in spite of the frustrations and difficulties. That’s what the Ducks did against the Red Wings on Monday night. Walking into the Honda Center, a flock of Ducks flew over the parking lot, quacking as if to say “Let’s Go Ducks.”
Read the rest here - Link
