Ducks' Second Line Helps Nail Down Game 2 Victory

On Sunday, the first line took a bit of a back seat in the game, and the second line stepped up

In Game 1 of the Anaheim Ducks’ series against the Calgary Flames, the team’s top line played one of its best games of the season as Corey Perry and Ryan Getlzaf helped drive the team to a 6-1 victory to get the series off to a roaring start.

On Sunday, the first line took a bit of a back seat in the game, and the second line stepped up to the forefront as they helped beat the Flames by a score of 3-0. Matt Beleskey got the scoring started for the Ducks as he scored his second goal of the postseason, and Ryan Kesler and Jakub Silfverberg each picked up assists on the tally.

While some goals are exclusively about the pass that created it or the shot that ensured it, this tally had a little bit of everything for the Ducks. The pass from Silfverberg up the boards got in behind the defense and created the 2-on-1 opportunity. The saucer pass across the ice from Kesler was perfect in every way, with the speed meaning that it hit Beleskey in stride and the height of the pass ensuring that it got over a defender’s stick on its way to the winger.

Finally, Beleskey’s shot was exactly on point. On the rush, sometimes it’s tempting to try rushing the shot, and it can end up coming off of the heel of the stick and skipping wide of the net. In Beleskey’s case, he waited until the puck was on his stick before firing it, and it went into the open net behind Karri Ramo to give Anaheim the lead.

Aside from their first period goal, the line as a whole played a really effective game for the Ducks. Combined, the three players accounted for eight of Anaheim’s shots on goal, and their dominance of puck possession didn’t end there, as they finished at a cumulative plus-13 in the Corsi department. Holding onto the puck for that long prevents an opponent from making an effective comeback attempt, and the trio certainly kept the Calgary offense at bay with their play in that area.

They were even solid in the physicality department, collecting a total of eight hits in the game as they continued their dominance from their series against Winnipeg. Generally if a team is racking up a good number of hits, it means that they aren’t possessing the puck effectively, but in this line’s case, they use their physical strength to get the puck back, and that’s an idea scenario.

With good games from each of their top two lines in this series, the Ducks are establishing themselves as a team to look out for based on their depth and their skill at both ends of the ice. Sure there are still question marks about the blue line, but in the forward department at least, things continue to look up for Anaheim.

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