Goaltender Lukas Dostal sparkled in net with 52 saves and Frank Vatrano scored twice as the host Anaheim Ducks posted a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Friday.
Dostal capped his performance by staring down Devils star Jack Hughes on a penalty shot with 2.1 seconds remaining in regulation. Max Jones collected one goal and one assist and Adam Henrique added a goal for the Ducks, who won for the second consecutive night.
Hughes and Tyler Toffoli each posted one goal and one assist and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils, who have dropped two of their last three games and have only two victories in their last six games. Starting goalie Nico Daws was pulled after surrendering four goals on 14 shots through the first two periods. Akira Schmid stopped nine shots in relief.
Vatrano opened the scoring at the 3:37 mark. Mason McTavish won a battle at the end boards and swept pass to Vatrano in the right circle, who immediately fired a five-hole shot. The Devils have surrendered the first goal in 44 of their 60 games.
Meier put New Jersey on the board at the 17:24 of the opening frame when he pounced on a loose puck to net his 12th of the campaign. However, Henrique restored the Anaheim lead 51 seconds later with a wraparound for his 18th goal of the campaign.
After Jones made it a 3-1 Anaheim lead at 13:47 of the second period thanks to a nifty redirect from the slot of a point shot for his fifth of the season, Hughes pulled the Devils within one 100 seconds later with a power-play goal, his 20th marker of the season.
But Vatrano again put the Ducks ahead by a pair with his second goal of the game and 29th of the campaign with 2:52 remaining in the second period. Vatrano slipped through the defense before taking a pass from Troy Terry and lifted a backhand shot.
Toffoli buried a rebound for New Jersey’s second power-play goal of the game, his 26th tally of the season, with 2:57 remaining in regulation, but the Devils were unable to find the equalizer despite registering 22 third-period shots.
–Field Level Media
