Anaheim was blanked by the Minnesota Wild Tuesday 4-0.
Ryan Hartman, Jon Merrill, Kirill Kaprizov and Jacob Lucchini were the goal scorers for Minnesota. Matt Boldy had two assists on the night for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson picked up the shutout win in net for Minnesota stopping all 27 of Anaheim’s shots.
John Gibson picked up the loss for Anaheim stopping 28 of 32 shots on net. This is Anaheim’s seventh straight loss, as well as their eighth loss in their last nine games. During the skid Anaheim has allowed 35 goals for an average of five a game.
The game started off as a goalie show with both net minders not giving an inch, leaving the first period to go without a single goal. Minnesota led the way in the shot department in the first 9-6.
It did not take too long for the Wild to catch fire in the second. First just 35 seconds into the period Ryan Hartman picked up his 18th goal of the season after he jammed in a rebound of a shot attempt from Marcus Foligno.
Just 1:21 later Jon Merrill would get the puck after a Minnesota offensive faceoff zone win. His wrist shot would beat Jon Gibson with the help of the right post making things 2-0 in favor of Minnesota.
Next, Kirill Kaprizov would score a back handed power-play goal to make things 3-0 after Mats Zuccarelo and Kaprizov scrummed in front of Gibson for a rebound.
Finally, in the third at 13:03 a picked off pass would lead to a two on none for Minnesota and Adam Beckman would connect with Jacob Lucchini who hammered home a slapshot to extend things to the games final score of 4-0.
Penalty minutes once again haunted the Ducks as they had ten on the night.
Gibson was tasked with facing a lot of rebound shots as Ducks defenders struggled to keep the garbage out from in front of him, making it impossible for him to save a lot of these attempts in close. Anaheim needs to focus on getting bodies down low.
Turnovers were a problem on the night for the Ducks as well, one even directly contributing to a goal. The team had seven giveaways on the night.
Anaheim is also having trouble converting on opportunities. They are putting up shots, but their time in the offensive zone is not great and there are not many bodies down low for tip-ins. The lack of offensive weapon Adam Henrique at the deadline has been noticed, especially with Trevor Zegras still injured. Henrique’s work in the faceoff dot has also been missed as the team is regularly beaten in the face off circle game after game.
Next the Ducks will face the Blackhawks again who just beat them on the 12th 7-2. Puck drop will be at 10:00 P.M. EDT and 7:00 P.M. PDT on BSSD, BSSC, and NBCSCH+ as well as NHL Power Play on ESPN+.
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Featured image via NHL.com
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- Source: https://thegamehaus.com/sports/wild-blank-ducks/2024/03/21/
