Photo of the game
AP Photo/Henry DiRocco
Official Ducks Game Report w/video
Boxscore
Faceoffs
Play-by-Play
Anaheim Ducks Coverage
Sunday night against Edmonton, the Ducks faced one former member of last year’s prosperous PPG line, and they were missing another because of injury. The third forward from that line, Corey Perry, did all he could in regulation with a goal and an assist. But he was one of the two Ducks to miss the mark in a losing shootout effort, as Edmonton prevailed, 3-2.
Perry had his team-leading sixth goal in pushing the Ducks to a 2-1 lead in the third period, but a late shorthanded goal by Edmonton tied it and they ultimately overtook the Ducks in the shootout that has been unkind to Anaheim since its inception in 2005-06.
The loss was Anaheim’s fourth in a row and dropped the defending Stanley Cup champ’s record to an eye-opening 4-8-1.
"It's disappointing," said Ducks goalie J.S. Giguere. We found a way to lose tonight. But you build with positives and I think there were a lot more positives tonight than negatives."The game marked the return to Anaheim of former Ducks forward Dustin Penner, who signed a controversial offer sheet with Edmonton last August. Penner received a smattering of boos when he touched the puck on his first shift, and those few boos were mostly drowned out by classy cheers when a “Welcome, Dustin Penner” message went up on the video board.
"I didn't know what ti anticipate," Penner said. "You never really fully understand what it is going to be like until you come back. That first period was just a lot of emotions and memories running through my mind. Seeing the Ducks jerseys on the other side of the bench and knowing I'm wearing an Oilers one was a pretty interesting feeling."The Ducks again played without injured forward Ryan Getzlaf (the “G” on that PPG line), who is still nursing a strained forearm suffered at St. Louis last Tuesday. They were also missing Rob Niedermayer (groin) for the third straight game and continued to play without defenseman Mathieu Schneider (ankle) and forward Todd Bertuzzi (concussion).
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OC Register report
Less than 1 1/2 minutes away from celebrating what would have qualified as a pretty big night, the Ducks and their top line of Corey Perry, Chris Kunitz and Andy McDonald could only watch as it fell apart Sunday at Honda Center.
Rookie Andrew Cogliano’s short-handed goal at 18:33 of the third period enabled the Edmonton Oilers to force overtime, and shootout conversions by rookie Sam Gagner and Ales Hemsky eventually doomed the Ducks to a bitter 3-2 defeat, their fourth in succession.“We just seem to be snake-bit,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “If something can go wrong for us, it goes wrong right now.
“We have to continue to build on the positives and work ourselves through this.”
The Ducks (4-7-2) could take consolation only in a point gained in the standings, courtesy of the shootout loss, and the sense that they might have deserved a better fate. Despite a slow start that resulted in a 1-0 deficit when Hemsky buried a one-timer directly off a Shawn Horcoff faceoff victory at 12:41 of the first period, the Ducks came back strong.
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AP Report via the LA Times
Oilers rookie Andrew Cogliano scored a short-handed goal with 1:27 left in the third period, Mathieu Garon made 31 saves and Edmonton beat the Ducks, 3-2, in a shootout tonight at the Honda Center to send the defending Stanley Cup champion Ducks to their fourth consecutive loss.
Ales Hemsky also scored for Edmonton and connected in the shootout to seal the victory after Sam Gagner opened the tiebreaker with a goal against Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Garon made his third start with the Oilers, who signed him in July.The Oilers pulled even when Cogliano parked himself in the low slot and tipped Geoff Sanderson's long slap shot past Giguere's stick for his third career goal and second short-handed. It came while teammate Steve Staios served a high-sticking penalty.
Chris Kunitz and Corey Perry scored for Anaheim (4-7-2).
The Oilers faced the Ducks for the first time since luring second-year left wing Dustin Penner away from Anaheim with a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet that Ducks general manager Brian Burke declined to match. The move triggered an ugly public spat between Burke and Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe, who watched the game from adjacent suites in the press box without speaking to each other.Read the rest here - Link
CBC Game Report
Goaltender Mathieu Garon bailed out his Edmonton Oilers teammates on numerous occasions in regulation and then got the support he needed in the shootout.
First, rookie Sam Gagner beat Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere with a pretty move and then Alex Hemsky notched the winner, his second goal of the game, to cap a 3-2 road victory on Sunday night.
Garon stopped Corey Perry and Chris Kunitz after making 27 stops in the first three periods to record his second win in four starts against the Ducks since the start of the 2006-07 campaign.
Making just his second start of the season, the former Los Angeles King came up big in overtime, denying Samuel Pahlsson from in close after kicking aside a Kent Huskins shot with no time left on the clock in regulation.
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MVN Analysis of the game
Sunday evening brought another opportunity for the Ducks to turn things around. No better time than against the Edmonton Oilers, who have a virtually identical record to the Ducks thus far (4-7-1 vs. 4-7-0). The Oilers played the night before against the Kings, to whom they lost 4-1. Therefore, Mathieu Garon got the start in goal for the Oilers. Jean-Sebastien Giguere got the nod for the Ducks.
The Ducks continued without the services of Mathieu Schneider (broken bone), Todd Bertuzzi (concussion), Rob Niedermayer (sore groin) and Ryan Getzlaf (forearm strain). The Ducks and their fans got to take their first look at Dustin Penner in an Oilers uniform. Penner received a 1000% pay raise when Oilers GM Kevin Lowe threw a ridiculously overpriced offer sheet to the restricted free agent in the summer. Ducks GM Brian Burke did not have to think long and hard about whether or not to match the offer. As Lowe did not offer Burke the courtesy of being forewarned about the offer sheet, Burke and Lowe have had more than a few choice words in the press and their once close relationship is now non-existent. Penner was “warmly” received with hearty boos from the crowd. He was generally toothless against his former team with only one shot on goal and a -1 on the evening.
The first period did not see too many shots on goal for the Ducks. Each team had an unsuccessful power play opportunity, but the Oilers got on the board first. Ales Hemsky scored at 12:41 thanks to a face off win by Shawn Horcoff in the Ducks defensive zone. Giguere had no chance as it flew over his outstretched glove hand. There were no other goals in the period and the Oilers outshot the Ducks, 8 - 5, and had the better face-off percentage with 57% -43%. Both numbers needed to change if the Ducks want to turn things around.
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