Gibson is big in goal, Ducks end 3-game skid
The shots came from near and far, from one wing and then the other, many fired at high speed. The pressure was relentless at times, but Ducks goaltender John Gibson was unfazed and nearly unbeatable during his return to the lineup Friday at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
At one point, during a TV timeout, Gibson skated to the bench for a breather.
“Relax,” he seemed to say to his frazzled teammates.
The Ducks regrouped, inspired by Gibson’s unflappable play in goal, and took a 4-1 victory from the Blues, ending a three-game losing streak with their first win in regulation since Feb. 11 against the Golden Knights in Las Vegas. Gibson made 33 saves in his first start since March 12.
“He lights up the bench,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said of Gibson’s play after he was sidelined for five games because of an unspecified lower body injury. “We don’t want to feed off of it too much, obviously, because that means he’s putting on a performance like no other.
“It’s not only inspiring, but it’s comforting to know you’ve got that level of goalie in your net. We played very, very well in front of him. (But) in the second period, we tightened up. When we tightened up, he stayed relaxed and kept a smile on his face and kept the puck out of the net.”
Sam Steel gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead 2:23 into the second and Max Jones extended it to 2-0 at 19:07 of the period. Jakob Silfverberg assisted on Steel’s goal and Ryan Getzlaf set up Jones’ goal, moving within nine points of Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne’s franchise career record of 988.
Gibson enabled the Ducks to build their modest second-period lead with a series of exceptional saves. He was beaten only once in the period, but the goal post denied Vladimir Tarasenko’s shot from the right wing. St. Louis outshot the Ducks by 17-9 in the second period and by 34-24 by game’s end.
The Blues finally dented Gibson’s invincible aura when Ryan O’Reilly cut the Ducks’ lead to 2-1 at 10:50 of the final period. Instead of cracking in the final minutes, the Ducks buckled down and blanked the Blues the rest of the way. Derek Grant and Rickard Rakell scored late empty-net goals to make it 4-1.
The Ducks’ victory was their first in seven games over St. Louis, dating to Nov. 16, 2019.
“(Gibson) was a great leader (Friday), during TV timeouts coming to the bench and telling the boys to take a breath,” Jones said. “Then after the next couple of shifts, we go out there and score. It was a really good positive night for the team and something moving forward we’re going to focus on.”
The Ducks lost rookie defenseman Jamie Drysdale to what the team said was an upper body injury in the opening period. Jacob de la Rose of the Blues collided with a falling Drysdale along the boards 8:21 into the game and Drysdale needed assistance getting off the ice and to the dressing room.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether de la Rose’s knee struck Drysdale’s head or Drysdale hit his head on the ice or the boards. The Ducks were upset with de la Rose and Ben Hutton later fought with him. Hutton returned to the lineup after sitting out the past two games while on the COVID-19 protocol list.
Of Drysdale, Eakins said, “We’ll have more of an update on him (today).”