Perry, Kesler lead Ducks past Flyers in shootout (Jan 01, 2017)
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Just when John Gibson thought he'd have an early night, the Anaheim Ducks' goalie came back into the game and found another gear.
Corey Perry scored the decisive shootout goal, Ryan Kesler had a hat trick and Gibson made 51 saves to set career and franchise records in the Ducks' 4-3 shootout victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night.
Kesler had his fourth career hat trick and the first since April 7, 2011, with Vancouver. Gibson faced a career-high 54 shots. Jonathan Bernier, who played briefly in the second period, made one save.
Randy Carlyle pulled Gibson roughly three minutes into the second period after the giving up his third goal. Gibson had some words for his coach, but it turned out the benching wasn't what he thought.
''Randy said something to me when I got off the ice and we had a plan,'' Gibson said.
The plan was for simply for Gibson to reset and go back in at the next media timeout.
''I told him he was going back in,'' Carlyle said. ''You really couldn't fault him on the goals. It was poor defensive zone coverage from our perspective.''
Philadelphia had a season-high 55 shots and limited Anaheim to 25 shots on goal. Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn scored for the Flyers, and Steve Mason made 23 saves.
''The more pucks you throw on net the better chance you have of scoring,'' Flyers forward Brayden Schenn said. ''Tonight, we never got that bounce that we were looking for, but offensively we generated a lot of chances.''
The game was highlighted by a wild second period in which Kesler scored the third of his three goals, the Flyers scored twice to tie it at 3 and the Ducks changed goalies twice. The tone was set early when Kevin Bieksa and Wayne Simmonds engaged in a fight that ended with Bieksa ripping off Simmonds' jersey and pads, leaving him to skate to the penalty box half-naked.
Anaheim was outshot 52-23 through regulation, but Gibson kept Anaheim in it in the third, effectively sending it into overtime.
''He played a good game,'' Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds said. ''I thought we played really well. We played better than them. He played really well and as a result they have the two points and we don't.''
The Ducks had a golden opportunity to score in overtime when Rickard Rakell sped into the Flyers' zone untouched but Mason denied the breakaway opportunity and the ensuing redirect on the rebound by Hampus Lindholm. With 40 seconds left, Michael Del Zotto launched a hard wrist shot but Gibson head-butted it away for the save.
Kesler finished his hat trick at 16:54 in the second period, but it was the only offense Anaheim could generate. Schenn and Couturier scored each scored in the next two minutes to tie it at 3.
Kesler opened the scoring in the first period when he finished off a backhand feed from Korbinian Holzer at 7:55. Konecny scored 19 seconds later to tie it at 1, but Kesler scored again in the first period off a rebound at 16:54, making it 2-1.
NOTES: Anaheim lost captain Ryan Getzlaf in the third period. Getzlaf took one shift before leaving the game with a lower-body injury. ... The Ducks are 2-9 in games past regulation this season. ... The Flyers are now 8-5 in overtime. ... Mason started two nights after being taken out of a game in San Jose with a hand injury. ... Flyers D Radko Gudas also returned from an upper-body injury and R Matt Read (oblique) was activated from injured reserve. ... Ducks D Sami Vatanen (flu) returned after a three-game absence.
UP NEXT
Flyers: Host New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
Ducks: Host Detroit on Wednesday night.
