ANAHEIM, Calif. – In a battle between two of the bottom-3 teams in the standings, the Ducks came out victorious on Wednesday night against the Sharks, concluding their first half of the 2023-24 season.
Isac Lundeström started the scoring early on, popping in a loose puck after a good forechecking effort from both Mason McTavish and Jakob Silfverberg. The trio have now combined for 11 points since becoming linemates four games ago.
A power play goal by Anthony Duclair five minutes later would knot the score. Rookie defenseman Shakir Mukhamadulin collected his first career NHL point on the goal.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic gave San Jose the lead in the latter half of the second, scoring his second goal in as many games with a shot of the seeing-eye variety. His goal last night against the Seattle Kraken was scored in similar fashion. Though he has just five goals this season, Vlasic has scored two of those against the Ducks.
It took pulling John Gibson for the extra attacker in the dying stages of the third period for Anaheim to find a tying goal. Leo Carlsson fished the puck out from under Adam Henrique and dished it to Troy Terry all in one motion, with the matter wasting no time getting a one-timer off.
“I thought in the third we made more of a commitment to (get shots on net),” said Terry. “Big play by Leo. We’ve been on the wrong side of a lot of those games, so it was nice to kind of have a heroic comeback there.”
Terry would factor in the Ducks’ overtime winner as well, as he cruised down the right wing on an odd-man rush with Frank Vatrano and fed the All-Star for the game-winning tally and his first goal in eight games.
“It was a great play by Troy,” said Vatrano. “I thought he played well all night.”
“He’s been the heart and soul of this team,” said Terry. “Now he gets to go have an experience of a lifetime (in Toronto at the All-Star Game) and we’re all really happy for him.”
“When you grip your stick a little bit tighter and you’re not scoring, it’s good to see one go in,” said Vatrano. “And it’s good to take that into the break, especially as a team.”
“Now I’m seeing why he was rewarded with a long-term contract to be a building block for the franchise,” said Cronin of Terry. “Not that he wasn’t a good player before, but what he’s doing now is elite. What he was doing before was inconsistently elite.”
“I think maybe my last 25 games or so, I’ve become the kind of player I want to become offensively,” said Terry. “I wish I could have been more productive earlier in the year, but I feel really good about half the season I’ve played now.”
