ANAHEIM — It was an eventful day between the Jacob Trouba acquisition and the third annual “Women in Sports Night” at Honda Center, but there was still a game to be played on Friday night, one that unraveled for the Ducks in the second period as the Minnesota Wild cruised to a 5-1 victory.
The Ducks finalized the deal with the New York Rangers for Trouba in the early afternoon and he was still in the Big Apple on Friday evening. Notably, they were also without Trevor Zegras (lower-body injury) and Leo Carlsson (upper-body injury), though General Manager Pat Verbeek said Carlsson could come back during the team’s upcoming road trip.
Brock McGinn returned to action for the first time since Nov. 18 and scored the Ducks’ only goal. Cam Fowler assisted on it and tied Corey Perry for the second-most games played in franchise history with 988. John Gibson came up with 28 saves.
Minnesota’s top trio of Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi dominated as each member racked up three points. In Kaprizov’s case that meant climbing back atop the Art Ross Trophy leaderboard. Yakov Trenin added a short-handed empty-net goal. Filip Gustavsson had 26 saves as the Wild won their season-high fifth game in a row.
The first period brought a couple of hairy moments in the Ducks’ crease and a Mason McTavish partial breakaway that chipped some paint off the post. But the second period brought the game’s first power play at 4:04 and, 18 seconds later, its first goal.
Alex Killorn couldn’t reach a puck just inside the defensive blue line that was snatched up by Jared Spurgeon and moved point-to-point for Kaprizov. He found an enormous seam to send a pass to Rossi at the side of the net, where he redirected the puck skyward, roofing it for the first of his two goals.
A Brett Leason breakaway nearly recouped that goal, but Minnesota struck again – and again – at the 8:03 and 10:51 marks.
Although the Ducks had Minnesota outnumbered at the net, Rossi’s incidental contact with a shot attempt into congestion by Boldy earned him credit for his ninth goal of the season after the loose puck was inadvertently kicked in by Gibson’s left skate.
A stretch pass for Kaprizov during a Ducks line change hastened their sort-out in the defensive zone. There, Kaprizov, Rossi and Boldy went tic-tac-toe for a tap-in goal, Boldy’s 12th of the year but just his second in his past 10 games.
Late in the frame, Ryan Strome had his point-blank bid at an empty net denied by a stick check by Spurgeon and Gustavsson had the answer for McGinn’s shot from the slot.
Frank Vatrano’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the end of the second period rolled a Minnesota power play into the third. Though it was technically a five-on-five goal, they extended their lead one second after Vatrano’s penalty expired.
While Kaprizov can produce dazzling moments, this was another simple shot-rebound goal. Boldy’s flick from the center of the blue line created some loose change that Kaprizov was quick to deposit in the piggy bank behind Gibson.
With 3:23 left in the game, McGinn broke up what would have been Gustavsson’s league-leading third shutout when he tipped Fowler’s point shot home for his fourth goal of the season.
Some extended six-on-four time with a power play and Gibson pulled created some chances, including a close-range opportunity for Killorn, but ultimately a mishandle by Jackson LaCombe and a long shot into an empty net from Trenin quelled any excitement in the building.
More to come on this story.
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