*Photo from the Eagle Tribune*
It was a coming out party for the young kid, finally making some loud noise in the NHL. Mason McTavish had two goals, John Klingberg scored the game winner, and the Anaheim Ducks defeated the San Jose Sharks with a 5-4 overtime victory on Friday night in Anaheim.
Leading the way on the scoresheet for the Ducks was the rookie McTavish, in his first full season after a 9 game sample in 2021-2022. McTavish had two goals and two assists, becoming the second youngest player in Ducks history to record a 4 point game, behind only Stanislav Chistov in 2002.
Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins said of McTavish's play that it was "Good to see him put some points up tonight. He's out there because he's earned trust; not only the trust of me, but he's got the trust of our coaching staff and he has the trust of his teammates."
Starting the scoring was San Jose's Matt Nieto, who gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead just 38 seconds into the game. Steven Lorentz then deflected a shot into the net to double the lead for the Sharks, assisted by Erik Karlsson and Jonah Gadjovich. Trevor Zegras scored 35 seconds after Lorentz to get the Ducks on the board to make it 2-1. Ryan Strome then provided the equalizer to make it 2-2 after one period.
Timo Meier responded for the Sharks to start the second, putting them ahead 3-2 on his 22nd goal of the season. McTavish scored to tie the game at the 13:06 mark of the second, assisted by Jakob Silfverberg and Simon Benoit. Meier scored again just 14 seconds after McTavish, putting the Sharks up 4-3 with one period to go.
At the 13:13 mark of the final period, McTavish tied the game once again with his second goal of the night, forcing overtime with Adam Henrique getting the lone assist. Just 1:08 into the extra frame, McTavish and Troy Terry assisted on the winning goal from Klingberg, going down as his 5th goal of the season.
Returning from IR and getting the start for the Ducks was Anthony Stolarz, who picked up the win. Stolarz stopped 37 of the 41 shots he faced from the Sharks, recording a .902 save percentage as his record increased to 3-5-0 in 8 starts.
Getting the start opposite Stolarz was Kaapo Kahkonen, who fell to 4-7-4 in 16 starts with an overtime loss. Kahkonen turned away 24 out of the 29 shots the Ducks got on goal, which was good for a .828 save percentage.
Meier gave his thoughts after the game, saying that "We find ways to give them chances, even though we outplayed and outshot them. We just find ways to lose. We had plenty of chances. We could've had one or two more."
Up next, both teams resume their schedule with home games against the Boston Bruins over the weekend. James Reimer will start for the Sharks against Boston on Saturday night, while John Gibson is expected to start for the Ducks against the Bruins on Sunday night.
Comments
Post a Comment