Leo Carlsson scored 54 seconds into overtime to give the Anaheim Ducks a 5-4 victory over the visiting Utah Hockey Club in their home opener on Wednesday night.
Carlsson stole the puck away from Nick Schmaltz near the right boards and then broke in and beat Utah goaltender Connor Ingram with a backhand-to-forehand deke, sliding the puck around Ingram’s right pad for the game-winner.
Pavel Mintyukov scored two goals, the first multi-goal game of his career, and Troy Terry and Robby Fabbri each scored for Anaheim. Lukas Dostal made 26 saves and Mason McTavish added two assists for the Ducks.
Michael Kesselring and Jack McBain each had a goal and an assist, Schmaltz had two assists and Barrett Hayton also scored for Utah, which was playing the final game of a four-game cross-country road trip that began on the east coast against the New York Islanders. Ingram finished with 29 saves.
Anaheim took a 1-0 lead at the 4:40 mark of the opening period on Terry’s sharp-angle snap shot from the bottom of the left circle inside the near the post for his second goal of the season.
Utah tied it 1-1 midway through the period when McBain, stationed by the right side of the crease, redirected Mikhail Sergachev’s point shot into the net. The visitors then took the lead at the 13:25 mark on a power-play goal by Hayton, who tapped in a rebound of a Schmaltz shot into the top left corner of the net.
Anaheim bounced back to take a 3-2 lead in the second period when Fabbri roofed a backhand shot off a behind-the-net pass from Trevor Zegras and Mintyukov’s wrist shot in the slot got past Ingram’s glove side.
Shortly after killing a Ducks’ 5-on-3 power play, Utah tied it, 3-3, at the 5:21 mark of the third period when Kesselring finished off a 3-on-2 rush with a wrist shot from the high slot past Dostal’s glove side. Keller put the visitors back ahead, 4-3 midway through the period when he took a Schmaltz feed while breaking down the slot and lifted a backhand shot over Dostal’s left pad for his fourth goal.
The Ducks tied it, 4-4, with 5:05 remaining with Mintyukov’s rebound shot through Ingram’s pads that dribbled over the goal line.
