Comtois’ goal is the winner
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Ducks gave up plenty of scoring chances, probably too many. They took a penalty with two minutes left, another with a minute left, and faced a six-on-three when Arizona pulled its goalie.
John Gibson didn’t let anything through and now the Ducks are 2-0 to start the season despite missing a string of key players.
Gibson stopped 41 shots, rookie Max Comtois scored for the second straight game to open his NHL career and the Ducks beat the Coyotes 1-0 on Saturday night.
“When you get to the end of the game, it’s about sacrifice and doing the little things,” Gibson said. “We really did that.”
The Ducks and Coyotes played a tight game, with Comtois breaking the ice in the closing seconds of the second period. He had a goal 49 seconds into the Ducks’ season-opening win over San Jose.
The Coyotes had plenty of chances after that and picked up the pressure in the third period.
With 2:01 left, Anaheim’s Jakob Silfverberg was sent off for delay of game after sending a puck over the glass from his own end. Carter Rowney then was called for high-sticking with a minute left and the Coyotes pulled goalie Antti Raanta with about 30 seconds left. Nothing got through. The Coyotes rushed some shots and Gibson stopped the ones that did get to him, closing out his 17th shutout.
“You don’t have too many six-on-threes,” Ducks center Adam Henrique said.
Arizona was shut out in consecutive games to open a season for the first time in 39 years as a franchise.
“It’s a hard league to score and I thought we left some opportunities out there,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “And I thought we got a little antsy on that five-on-three instead of sticking to what we did in practice. We’ve got to score in that situation.”
The Ducks opened the season without injured forwards Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Ondrej Kase and Patrick Eaves, and Ryan Getzlaf appeared to be injured late in the game.