Ducks can’t hold back Calgary Flames and lose in their home finale
Andrei Kuzmenko scored three goals, Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists, and the Calgary Flames withstood the Ducks’ third-period rally for a 6-3 victory Friday night.
Kuzmenko got his second career hat trick with two goals in the final 5:38 after the Ducks had trimmed Calgary’s 4-0 lead to one goal. Andrew Mangiapane and Connor Zary also scored for the Flames, who won for only the third time in 12 games. Dustin Wolf made 19 saves.
“The first 40 minutes, we played a pretty exceptional game,” said Wolf, a California native who grew up partly in Tustin. “Then they scored a couple of nice goals, and I was just battling. Made a couple of saves when I needed to.”
Sam Colangelo scored a goal in his NHL debut for the Ducks early in the third period, and Frank Vatrano and Olen Zellweger scored shortly afterward. But Kuzmenko deflected Jonathan Huberdeau’s shot to keep the Flames ahead with 5:38 to play on a power play, and he added another less than three minutes later.
Lukas Dostal made 36 saves, and the Ducks defeated the Kings for the first time in three meetings this season.
Kuzmenko acknowledged he wasn’t sure whether he deserved the credit for his second goal, but he’ll take it.
“A hat trick is a hat trick,” Kuzmenko said with a grin. “It’s more important we win.”
The game was the last at Honda Center for longtime Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg, who announced his impending retirement this week after a 12-year NHL career. Silfverberg said after the game that he will play “another couple of years” in his native Sweden.
John Gibson stopped 21 shots in the final home game of the sixth consecutive season with no playoffs for the Ducks, who have lost 15 of 18. The Ducks finished with just 12 home victories, fewer than every team except NHL-worst San José with 11.
Mangiapane tapped in his 14th goal to cap an impressive sequence of short-handed forechecking by Calgary in the first period. Kadri doubled the lead six minutes later with his 27th goal, and Kuzmenko scored his 19th of the season from inside Gibson’s goal crease in the second period.
The Ducks trailed 4-0 before Colangelo easily tapped in his goal in the third period when a puck trickled underneath Wolf and sat in the crease. The Ducks drafted Colangelo in the second round in 2020, and the 22-year-old forward from Massachusetts turned pro this month after his senior season at Western Michigan.
“It felt incredible,” said Colangelo, who had his parents and two close friends in the stands. “I kind of blacked out for a second there. Just tried to get a little celly in and enjoy it with the teammates. They were great to me all day, the last couple of days. It was a great feeling.”
Vatrano scored on a spectacular no-look pass from Trevor Zegras behind the Flames’ net, and Zellweger made it 4-3 just 48 seconds later with a shot through traffic for his second career goal.
The 33-year-old Silfverberg spent the last 11 seasons of his 12-year NHL career with the Ducks, playing a key supporting role as a two-way forward on a series of five consecutive Pacific Division champions from 2013-17. The Ducks made two Western Conference finals during that stretch with Silfverberg, who rebounded from a potentially serious blood clot in his leg two seasons ago to finish out his contract this year.
Silfverberg got a standing ovation after a tribute video played during the first media timeout. Before the game, the forward received a Rolex watch, a customized table tennis table and a gaming chair from different portions of the organization.
“It’s been a different day with a lot of emotions,” Silfverberg said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t make it all the way [back in the game], but I really appreciate what the team has done for me and my family today. It’s been an awesome day that me and my kids and my wife will remember forever.”
Up next for the Ducks: vs. Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
