ANAHEIM — The Ducks matched the defending champions stride-for-stride through two periods on Tuesday night, but they were tucked away summarily in the third as the Florida Panthers prevailed, 5-2, at Honda Center after winning by an identical three-goal margin in Saturday’s shutout of the Ducks in Florida.
Opening-salvo goals by Frank Vatrano and Mason McTavish set up a vigorous effort in the middle frame for the hosts, but their fancy-stat dominance didn’t translate to the scoreboard. Two goals in the opening five minutes of a lackluster third period condemned the Ducks to a defeat in which Lukáš Dostál turned in an off night, stopping 25 of 30 shots. Trevor Zegras returned after missing six weeks (knee), registering four shots on goal.
Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and Uvis Balinskis scored for Florida. Verhaeghe added an assist while Mackie Samoskevich and Tomáš Nosek contributed two helpers apiece. Sergei Bobrovsky had 28 saves.
Just 19 seconds into the third period, Florida reestablished its two-goal lead off the forecheck when Bennett went skate-to-blade to control a pass in the slot before rifling a shot through traffic. The Panthers extended their edge to 5-2 less than four minutes later behind another strong forecheck and Balinskis’ wrister from well above the hash marks, a seeing-eye shot through a goalie whose vision was limited by a heap of bodies.
These two teams combined for a whopping 79 shots on goal Saturday and were on pace for 66 through two periods on Tuesday, with each side heading to the dressing room with 22.
Territorially and analytically, the Ducks ruled, garnering what Natural Stat Trick scored as 82% of the expected goals, but no expectations were realized in a scoreless 20 minutes.
Yet there were as many goals scored, three, in 75 seconds near the end of the first period than the two teams combined for in a full hour of Saturday’s action, when Florida prevailed 3-0.
McTavish halved the Ducks’ deficit before the intermission with a short-side snipe. It finished a two-on-one rush between him and Cutter Gauthier that was keyed by captain Radko Gudas, who spent three seasons with the Panthers before signing as a free agent before last season. Gudas earned the lone assist on McTavish’s seventh goal this season.
Florida had taken a two-goal lead as errors compounded for the Ducks. Jacob Trouba’s turnover deep in the Ducks’ end to Samoskevich allowed him to make the shortest of passes to Verhaeghe, who appeared to surprise Dostál with a sharp-angle goal that beat him inside the near post.
Dostál, who is known to be very demanding of his own play, was visibly upset with himself after Florida’s second goal. A partial two-on-one rush with A.J. Greer left Rodrigues with a shot from the right side, which Dostál stopped only to feel the follow-up bid bank off the back of his pads and into the net.
The frame was exhilarating beyond its copious close. The opening 10 minutes of the match saw the Ducks draw two penalties, cashing in on one power play, with the Panthers providing a picturesque equalizer between those opportunities.
Gustav Forsling, who scored an empty-net goal against the Ducks on Saturday, pressured Troy Terry into a giveaway in the Ducks’ zone. From there, it was hijinks versus highlights, as the hosts couldn’t scramble to prevent a tic-tac-toe passing play between the Panthers’ three star forwards. Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk earned the assists 8:58 into the game, when Reinhart skated across the crease unmolested, going forehand to backhand around Dostál’s poke-check attempt to score with ease.
The Ducks darted out to a 1-0 lead less than five minutes after the puck dropped with some precise passing of their own. During their first power play, Ryan Strome dished from the goal line into the left circle for Terry, whose touch pass into the right slot for Vatrano gave him a no-doubt tally, his 12th goal of the season.
More to come on this story.