American Airlines Center continues to be a house of horrors for the Anaheim Ducks after falling to the Dallas Stars 4-3 in overtime on Thursday. It was the Ducks’ 11th consecutive loss in Dallas — their last win was on Oct. 28, 2015. This one ended when Stars defenseman Thomas Harley scored the game-winner 38 seconds into the extra period. Ducks forwards Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry started overtime and had the first shot on goal. Carlsson lost the ensuing faceoff in the Stars’ zone to forward Joe Pavelski. Harley received the puck off the draw, skated up ice on a two-on-one with forward Roope Hintz and snapped the puck past Ducks goalie John Gibson.
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Despite the loss, the Ducks earned a point against Dallas (28-13-6) and two points in a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabers on Tuesday. Anaheim had standout performances from a few players in both games. Against Dallas, defenseman Urho Vaakanainen scored his first NHL goal, veteran forward Jakob Silfverberg had two points (a goal and an assist), and forward Isac Lundestrom had two assists, while Gibson made 40 saves. The Ducks (16-30-2) have lost four of five, but both games highlighted a few positive trends going for Cronin’s group and deficiencies the team can improve upon.
Gudas and Vaakanainen Continue Strong Play
Trailing Dallas 1-0, Vaakaneinan scored his first career goal from the goal line with 4:55 remaining in the first period to tie the game. He fired a near-side shot, and the puck deflected off Stars goalie Jake Oettinger’s left skate and into the net. It wasn’t pretty, but Vaakaneinan finally earned his first NHL goal in his 108th career game. The 25-year-old Finn nearly scored a couple of times this season, but all have been waved off or credited to someone else. Vaakaneinan has a plus-8 rating in road games this season and is second on the team with a plus-6 overall.
Vaakaneinan’s partner on the back end, Radko Gudas, leads the Ducks with a plus-16 rating on the season and is a plus-5 over his last five games. Gudas led the Ducks with four hits against Dallas, including a hard hip check on former Duck Sam Steel in the third period. The defensive pair led all Ducks in ice time on Thursday (24:46 for Vaakaneinan and 25:41 for Gudas) and have played sound hockey in their own end over the last five games.
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