April 17, 2017

Corey Perry scored the game-winning goal 1:30 into overtime, and the Ducks rallied from a four-goal deficit to defeat the Flames 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday night in game 3 of their 1st round series.  The victory game the Ducks a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, and put them one game away from the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Perry shot the puck from the right wing boards, which deflected off of Flames’ goalie Brian Elliott, then off of defenseman Michael Stone, and into the net.  It was Perry’s first playoff goal since Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference finals.

The Ducks tied the game at 4-4 with a little over 4 minutes left in the 3rd period.  Shea Theodore sent a wrist shot toward Elliott with traffic in front of the net, which got by the the Flames netminder, who had to battle traffic in front of the net on the play.  It was his 2nd goal of the game.

Anaheim trailed 4-2 heading into the 3rd period, but Nate Thompson pulled the Ducks within 1 at the 11:14 mark of the 3rd.  Thompson tipped in a shot, which had to be reviewed by the referees to insure that he didn’t knock the puck out of the air with a high stick.

Theodore started the Ducks rally with under a minute left in the 2nd period.  His wrist shot from the left circle beat Elliott to the glove side.

The Flames built their 4-1 lead on goals by Sean Monahan, Kris Versteeg, Michael Stone, and Sam Bennett.  Monahan and Versteeg’s goals came on the power play, 7 minutes apart to give the Flames an early 2 goal lead.  Nick Ritchie got the Ducks on the board at 15:33 of the 1st period, to cut the lead to 2-1 after the 1st period.

After Bennett’s power play goal in the 2nd period, the Ducks pulled John Gibson, and replaced him with Jonathan Bernier.  Gibson made 12 saves, while facing 16 shots.  Bernier stopped all 16 shots that he faced for Anaheim.

The win was the largest playoff comeback for Anaheim in franchise history.  The Ducks will go for the sweep on Wednesday night in Calgary.