FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Ducks - Game 34

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Ducks – Game 34

Franchise Sports Media

Golden Knights (22-12)  |  Anaheim Ducks (17-10-7)

 

The Golden Knights ended 2021 with a bang as they outplayed, frustrated, and beat the Anaheim Ducks in a 3-1 win.

 

With this win, the Golden Knights fend off the Ducks for first in both the Pacific Division and Western Conference standings.

Evgenii Dadonov, Alex Pietrangelo, and Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer returned Friday. Nolan Patrick returned to the Golden Knights lineup for the first time since October 22nd. He spent the afternoon as the team’s fourth-line center and also saw powerplay time. Nicolas Hague and Robin Lehner were absent.

Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty, once again, we’re out of the lineup for the Golden Knights. This resulted in the Golden Knight’s depth scoring picking up in a big way. Nicolas Roy, Adam Brooks, and Mattias Janmark scored goals for the Golden Knights in Friday’s win.

In the first period, the Golden Knights generated offense from their defense. Except for this time, it wasn’t the traditional Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo duo. For the second time in as many games, Ben Hutton threw a puck on net, and a Golden Knight deflected it in.

Nicolas Roy scored the game’s first goal on the deflection to make it 1-0. This was Roy’s seventh goal of the season, a new career-high for the 24-year old and we are only 41% through the season.

Later in the period, Dylan Coghlan shattered his stick on a slap shot. The puck still retained its momentum and went in after Adam Brooks deflected it. There was a bit of confusion before the goal was called as the puck was lodged into the net, but it was a goal for the Golden Knights.

The Golden Knights were the far better team in the first period but also had a bit of luck on their side as well.

 

Still, they finished the period up a pair of goals and were outshooting the Ducks 16-4.

 

This trend continued in the second period, and the Ducks started to show some frustration. Whatever they did, they couldn’t seem to fool Laurent Brossoit, who finished the night with 15 saves on 16 shots. Brossoit was not tested much as the Golden Knights only allowed ten shots through two periods, but his saves were timely and necessary for the win.

This trend continued in the second period, and the Ducks started to show some frustration. Whatever they did, they couldn’t seem to fool Laurent Brossoit, who finished the night with 15 saves on 16 shots. Brossoit was not tested much as the Golden Knights only allowed ten shots through two periods, but his saves were timely and necessary for the win.

Janmark now has goals in back-to-back games, a good sign for the Golden Knights, who are without two of their top wingers.

The Ducks started to get frustrated in the third period, and captain Ryan Getzlaf was the first to show it. After taking a penalty against former teammate William Karlsson, Getzlaf dropped the gloves with Keegan Kolesar in a pretty quick scrap. However, a few plays later, Brayden McNabb and Derek Grant threw knuckles after Grant crosschecked Coghlan.

After a laundry list of penalties, the Golden Knights were on the powerplay after this scrum but could not score on the man advantage. They also received a penalty shot with Janmark taking it, but Ducks goaltender John Gibson was able to come up large.

 

Gibson continued to stand on his head for the Ducks making big saves on Michael Amadio and William Karlsson in the third. He finished the game with 42 saves but the loss at the end of the day.

 

One of the only areas where the Golden Knights struggled with Friday was on the powerplay, going 0 for 6. Still, they finish the month of December with 12 powerplay goals, a drastic improvement over their early-season efforts.

The Golden Knights had 14 powerplay shots on the afternoon and outshot the Ducks 45-16 in total. It was an overall dominant game for the Golden Knights Friday afternoon to wrap up 2021. They showed the Ducks why they are atop the Western Conference.

Before the final buzzer, Brayden McNabb laid out Sam Carrick, which caused another massive scrum that saw the two fight. The Ducks received a powerplay afterward, and Getzlaf scored, which ruined Brossoit’s shutout.

 

The Golden Knights will play on Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets at 1:00 pm. The game can be seen on AT&T SportsNet.