*Photo from the Los Angeles Times*
The Mighty Ducks movie taught us to never underestimate the power of a Duck. Max Comtois had a goal and an assist, Derek Grant had an identical line, and the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Calgary Flames with a 3-1 victory on Friday night in Calgary.
With the Flames needing points any way they can get them in the middle of the wild card race, the Ducks came into Calgary and stonewalled them, improving to 5-2-3 in their last 10 games. They also snapped the Flames ongoing 8 game point streak against them.
Comtois said postgame that "It's been such a tough year for our group that I think we just want to win. We don't like the fact that we're at the bottom of the standings. We don't like the fact that it's been like that for the last three, four years. We have a really proud group and a lot of character on this team. We just want to win and whoever's in front of us, we want to beat them."
After a scoreless first period, Mikael Backlund scored his 15th goal of the season 6:43 into the second period, making it 1-0 Flames on the power play. Just over a minute later, Comtois tied it back up for the Ducks, evening the score 1-1 with his 7th goal of the season, with assists coming from Frank Vatrano and Cam Fowler.
Later in the second, the Ducks took the lead for good thanks to Brett Leason, assisted by Grant and Comtois on his 5th goal of the season, coming 11:33 into the second. The Ducks were kept off the scoreboard again until there were just two seconds left, when Grant sealed the 3-1 win with an empty net goal.
John Gibson got the start in net for the Ducks, improving to 14-24-7 with the road win. Gibson stopped 36 of the 37 shots he saw from the Flames, good for a stellar .973 save percentage. The 36 saves from Gibson put him past Guy Hebert for most saves all time in Ducks history.
Gibson said of becoming the team's save leader that "I just found out after the game. It's cool to be in the same category as those guys, some of the greats that have been here. It's an honor, and hopefully just keep going with it."
The opposing goalie for the Flames was Jacob Markstrom, who couldn't outduel Gibson and took the loss. Markstrom turned away 15 out of the 17 shots on goal the Ducks had, recording a .882 save percentage. His record now stands at 17-18-8 in 45 games.
Calgary defenseman Rasmus Andersson said of the loss that "I'm so frustrated. We didn't score. Honestly, that's the easy way to say it. We just didn't score today. We had a lot of looks, especially in the third. We're dominating the game in the third. We just can't get that tying goal or the leading goal. It's frustrating. I don't know. It stinks."
Both teams resume game action on Sunday as they both play at home. Gibson is the likely starter for the Ducks as they welcome the Nashville Predators to town, while Markstrom is the projected starter for the Flames against the Ottawa Senators.
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