Ducks defeat Avalanche in overtime to snap nine-game losing streak
DENVER — Ryan Getzlaf scored on a power play 1:59 into overtime, and the Ducks beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 on Saturday night to end a nine-game winless streak.
Troy Terry had two goals, Rickard Rakell had a goal and two assists, and Kevin Shattenkirk added a goal and an assist to help the Ducks win for the first time since Feb. 11. The last six losses were by one goal, the last a 3-2 overtime loss to Colorado on Friday night.
“Just coming close was getting really old,” Getzlaf said. “It was good for our group to respond that way.”
Ryan Miller made 29 saves for his 389th career win, tying him with Dominik Hasek for 14th place in NHL history.
“I’d like to have the trophies he’s got,” Miller said. “It meant a lot for me to carve out my own place for the [Buffalo] Sabers and carve out my own place in the league. I’m happy I’ve been able to play hockey at a high level with a lot of solid players around me where I can have a night like tonight. “
The Ducks got the winner after Mikko Rantanen took a tripping penalty early in the overtime. Rakell’s pass to the front of the net was tipped in by Getzlaf to end it.
Rantanen had two goals and Brandon Saad and Logan O’Connor scored for the short-handed Avalanche. Hunter Miska stopped 29 shots.
“I thought he was having a decent game, but when the heat got turned up and we needed a save, we didn’t get it,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said about Miska.
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon missed his second straight game following a hit to the head at San Jose on Wednesday night. Center J.T. Compher was a late scratch with what Colorado listed as an upper-body injury.
Matt Calvert, Cale Makar, Bowen Byram and Erik Johnson also are out with upper-body injuries. Johnson was put on long-term injured reserve Saturday.
Adrian Kempe scored in overtime, Anze Kopitar had two goals and an assist, and the Los Angeles Kings rallied for a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues.
Rantanen made it 3-2 with a shot from the top of the zone that got by Miller 6:03 of the third. Saad made it 4-2 just 24 seconds later when he crashed the net to tip in a centering pass from Andre Burakovsky.
Terry scored his second goal of the game and fourth of the season at 13:03, and Shattenkirk tied it with his first on the power play with 2:50 to go.
Just before the tying goal, Miller made a pair of saves on a short-handed chance, denying Tyson Jost and then sliding over to make a high save with his pads on Jayson Megna’s rebound attempt.
“He made a Hasek-like save,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “It was exactly what Dominik Hasek used to do.”
Highlights from the Ducks’ 5-4 overtime victory over the host Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.
The Ducks lost forward Max Jones in the first period when teammate Jakob Silfverberg’s shot hit him in the face in the first period. The Ducks, who dressed just 11 forwards, played with just 10 the rest of the way.
The Ducks went ahead on goals by Rakell in the first and Terry in the second, but the Avalanche rallied to tie it before the second intermission. O’Connor scored on a breakaway midway through the second, and Rantanen got Colorado even on the power play with his 11th goal at 17:36, a backhander off of Miller from below the net.
The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Assn.’s progress has been slowed by the pandemic, but the ‘Dream Gap’ tour injects the effort with hope.
“I thought we fought back hard in the second to give ourselves a good opportunity to come away with a victory,” O’Connor said. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot after going up 4-2, which is disappointing.”
Up next
The Ducks host the Kings on Monday night.
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