Controversial no-goal call dooms Ducks’ comeback in loss to Panthers
Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored his second goal in the last four games, Anton Lundell had two assists and the Florida Panthers continued their hot November with a 2-1 victory over the Ducks on Friday night at Honda Center.
Eetu Luostarinen also scored for the Panthers, who have won seven of their nine games in November.
Florida center Aleksander Barkov left in the third period after a knee-to-knee collision with Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe near center ice. Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Barkov would undergo further testing when the team returned to Florida.
Colorado’s Joel Kiviranta and Andrew Cogliano score 21 seconds apart in a five-goal third period for the Avalanche.
“We’ve played some pretty darn good hockey [this month] and most of it is just scratch and claw and grind,” Maurice said. “I think in the first part of this game was the first time we were moving pretty good offensively.”
Frank Vatrano put in his team-leading 12th goal for the Ducks. John Gibson, who was in net for his 441st game with the Ducks and tied Guy Hebert for second most in franchise history, made 31 saves.
“We weren’t very good. Let’s be honest. The first couple of periods, we were lucky it was only 2-1,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “We waited until the third period. I think we were going before we got the power-play goal, we were getting some zone time. Then, we played with some urgency and it was too little, too late.”
Jakob Silfverberg thought he put in the tying goal midway through the third period, but officials determined after a video review the puck had not crossed the Florida goal line.
Silfverberg said he thought the puck made it across the line, which a couple of angles on the videoboard seemed to show, but it was not overturned to a goal.
“I really don’t have anything to say. I think anybody that watched the replay can form their own opinion,” Cronin said. “I saw the same thing that 16,000 people saw. I have to respect what they saw in Toronto. I have no control over it.”
Anthony Stolarz, a former Duck, stopped 33 shots for the Panthers.
Ekman-Larsson gave the Panthers a two-goal advantage at 18:06 of the first period with a snap shot that went in off the far post. It was his seventh goal and 25th point in 59 games against the Ducks.
Adam Henrique scored with 3:51 remaining to lead the Ducks to a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
“I thought we started pretty good in the first, let in one on the [penalty kill] in the third and then it’s a tight game,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I mean it’s not easy coming in here after we played last night (a 2-1 loss to the Kings), but we knew it was going to be a tough game and we got two points and that’s most important.
Lundell, who has 85 career points, passed Vincent Trocheck and Ed Jovanovski for the eighth-most points by a Panthers player before age 23.
Luostarinen scored his first goal of the season at 14:50 of the first when he took Lundell’s pass from behind the net, skated to the near post and put a wrist shot past Gibson.
Vatrano got the Ducks within a goal at 7:39 of the third period on the power play when he put in a rebound after Stolarz made an initial save.
Panthers defensemen Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad made their season debuts after sitting out the first 16 games because of shoulder injuries. Montour led Panthers defensemen in goals last season with 16 and Ekblad was second with 14.
Up next for the Ducks: vs. St. Louis at Honda Center on Sunday.
