TAMPA, Fla. >> Less an ordinary hockey game for them and more a high-wire act they were on Saturday night, the Ducks got to the show’s climax against Tampa Bay because their main trapeze artist pulled off his share of thrilling stunts.
Taking his cue from John Gibson’s brilliant-but-fruitless effort on Friday across the state, Jonathan Bernier got the Ducks into overtime and then the shootout with some confident and daring goaltending. And then he fell.
Bernier made 35 saves in regulation and overtime but couldn’t stop three of the Lightning’s four shootout attempts, with Brian Boyle getting the decisive goal that spoiled the Ducks’ comeback effort in a 3-2 win at Amalie Arena.
The Ducks (28-16-10) seemed ready to escape like a thief in the night after Jakob Silfverberg and Ryan Getzlaf opened the shootout with scores. But Nikita Kucherov kept it going in the third round and after Rickard Rakell got stopped, Boyle swung the advantage to the Lightning.
Mirroring the kind of season he’s had, Ducks winger Corey Perry couldn’t convert as he had Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop beat but clipped the post with his shot.
“You want to get the two points,” Bernier said. “We fought hard. There’s a lot of penalties tonight and we played a back-to-back. They were fresh. We found a way to turn it up another notch in the third. Those are the games that you definitely want to get two points.”
Some good moments occurred between all the flaws, which on this night were numerous turnovers and eight more minor penalties taken. Brandon Montour was summoned from the minors and scored his first NHL goal. Getzlaf tied the game with a score at 4:02 of the third.
And the Ducks had an early chance to win in overtime but center Ryan Kesler hit the post. The Lightning controlled most of the latter part but Bernier made multiple shots on Kucherov. They’ve got a lot of work to do in a number of areas but goaltending right now is the least of their worries.
Bernier’s biggest stops came late in the second when he stopped Drouin and Vladislav Namestnikov on back-to-back shots from the slot. A third immediate chance by Kucherov was foiled by Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm.
“Those two guys have come in and given us a chance,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “That’s all you can ask for your goaltending, most specifically on the road. Again, it’s the type of work that they’re seeing. Those are tough minutes when you got to kill penalties.”
Getzlaf tied the game at 2-2 in the third when he got around Tampa Bay defenseman Andrej Sustr along the boards and snapped a wrist shot from the right circle past Bishop. It was Getzlaf’s eighth goal of the season and it was an equalizing finish that didn’t occur in Friday’s regulation loss at Florida.
“It’s a big goal,” Carlyle said. “It was a basic controlled breakout that we executed. Getzy went down and made a big-time shot and got us a point.”
Said Getzlaf: “It was nice to bounce back and contribute.”
Once again, the Ducks got on the scoreboard first and it was Montour who did the honors. The defenseman arrived at the arena just hours before game time after taking a red-eye flight from LAX so he could fill in for an injured Sami Vatanen.
Before that flight, Montour was playing in an AHL game in Ontario and gave the San Diego Gulls a win over the host Reign with a breakaway goal in overtime. His first strike in the NHL was an opportunistic one as he jumped on a pass from Jakob Silfverberg and sent a rocket past Bishop.
“I felt like I got a lot of wood on that,” Montour said. “Silvy made a good play and put it right in my wheelhouse and I just skated right into it.”
Once again, the Ducks couldn’t work with that lead. Lindholm’s first-period goal in Florida gave them a lead that lasted all of 13 seconds. Montour’s score for a 1-0 edge stayed for only 94 seconds this time as Drouin tied it up with a wrist shot after he cycled around the offensive zone.
Alex Killorn put the Lightning ahead in the second with a one-time conversion past Bernier on the power play to cash in Montour’s hooking penalty. The Ducks had killed off 35 of their previous 36 shorthanded situations before allowing that score.
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