February 11th, 2017

The Ducks road troubles continued Saturday in our nation’s capital. Anaheim rallied from a three-goal deficit, but gave up a goal late in the 3rd, ultimately ending in a 6-4 loss to the Capitals.

Capitals rookie Zach Sanford scored the game-winning goal, which was the first goal of his NHL career. Marcus Johansson added an empty net goal with 13 seconds left.

Anaheim fell behind 3-0 after the 1st period before getting on the scoreboard in the 2nd. Jakob Silfverberg got the Ducks on the board, but just over 5 minutes later, the Capitals made it 4-1 on a goal by Daniel Winnik.   Hampus Lindolm made it 4-2 before the period was over, then goals by Ryan Kessler followed by Ryan Getzlaf tied it up midway through the 3rd period.

Getzlaf had a goal and two assists for the Ducks, while John Gibson made 33 saves in the losing effort. Anaheim is just 1-3-1 with one game left on this six game road trip.

The Capitals have 84 points and own the NHL’s best record. Despite the loss, Getzlaf was encouraged. “It showed a lot of character, hanging in there and playing with a team like that and making that comeback,” Getzlaf said. “That’s not an easy team to do that against, and not an easy building to be in.”

The Ducks will wrap up their road trip on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild. Former Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau is behind the bench, and it’s no surprise the Wild are sitting at the top of the Western Conference standings given his track record for regular season success.

Anaheim remains in 2nd place in the Pacific Division. After playing at Minnesota and returning home to play Florida, the Ducks will have another showdown with their cross-town rivals, the Kings, on Sunday night.