Frederik Andersen stopped 27 shots, including all 21 he faced after the opening period, and Simon Despres scored the go-ahead goal at 19:05 of the second period to power the Anaheim Ducks past the Chicago Blackhawks and to a 2-1 series lead.
* The Ducks improved to 10-2 in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, including a 4-1 mark on the road. Elias says Anaheim also won 10 of its first 12 playoff games when it advanced to its first Stanley Cup Final in 2003. The Los Angeles Kings were the last team to accomplish the feat, opening with an 11-1 run en route to their first Stanley Cup in 2012. * The Ducks handed the Blackhawks their first home loss of the playoffs (5-1), just two nights after Chicago did the same to them. Anaheim also improved to 5-1-0 in its last six visits to United Center dating to Feb. 12, 2013, including 2-0-0 in 2014-15 (regular season and playoffs). * Andersen has been in net for all 12 Ducks games this postseason; he has a 1.75 goals-against average, a .935 save percentage and one shutout. Andersen has allowed two or fewer goals in nine of the 12 games. * Andersen, who made a career-high 53 saves in a 3-2 triple-overtime loss in Game 2, has not lost consecutive appearances since March 6 (5-2 L vs. Pittsburgh Penguins) and 9 (2-1 L at Vancouver Canucks). He is 15-4-0 with a 1.96 goals-against average, .928 save percentage and one shutout in 19 games since those defeats. * Despres, a first-round selection (No. 30) by Pittsburgh in the 2009 NHL Draft, scored his first career playoff goal (18 GP). Elias says Despres is the third Ducks defenseman to have his first career playoff goal stand as the game-winner. The others: David Karpa on April 29, 1997 (Game 7 of WQF vs. Phoenix Coyotes) and Kurt Sauer on May 12, 2003 (Game 2 of WCF at Minnesota Wild). * Despres scored his only other game-winning goal (regular season and playoffs, 178 GP) in overtime of Pittsburgh's 2-1 victory at the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 30. * Despres has 1-6—7 in 12 games this postseason after going without a point in his first six career playoff contests (all with Pittsburgh). He set career highs for goals (3), assists (20) and points (23) in 75 games during the regular season, including 1-5—6 in 16 games after being acquired from the Penguins on March 2. * Ryan Getzlaf (0-2—2) had his fifth multiple-assist game this postseason (12 GP). He had nine multi-assist performances during the regular season (77 GP) and led the Ducks with 45 assists. * Getzlaf leads the NHL with 14 assists in the playoffs, five more than any other player. That ties his own single-year franchise playoff assists record set in 2009 (13 GP). * Getzlaf (2-14—16) has 16 points in this year's playoffs, tied for second in the NHL with teammate Corey Perry (8-8—16) and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (7-9—16). He led the Ducks in scoring during the regular season with 25-45—70; it was the fifth time in his career he scored 70 or more points. * Patrick Maroon scored his fifth goal of the postseason (12 GP); he had nine goals in 71 games during the regular season. Maroon has 5-3—8 in 12 games in the 2015 playoffs, compared with 2-5—7 in his first 13 career playoff games. * MUST SEE: Perry broke his stick on an odd-man rush but grabbed another from the Ducks bench before firing a shot on goal. LOOSE PUCKS Chicago forward Patrick Kane converted a spinning backhand for his eighth goal of the postseason, tied for second in the NHL with his Western Conference Final opponent Corey Perry. … Kane has 45-60—105 in his playoff career (106 GP). His 45 goals tie him with Steve Larmer for fourth place on the franchise’s all-time postseason goals list, behind Bobby Hull (62), Denis Savard (61) and Stan Mikita (59). … The Ducks improved to 6-0 when scoring first during this year's playoffs. The team to score first has won each game in this series. … Blackhawks forward Brad Richards (0-1—1) has one point in each of the three games in this series and 2-5—7 overall this postseason (13 GP). … The Ducks converted on their only power-play opportunity. Their 27.8% efficiency (10-for-36) ranks second in the playoffs. … Blackhawks defenseman Kimmo Timonen played in his 100th career playoff game. … The Flyers signed forward Aaron Palushaj. … Click here for an all-access look at Game 3 between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. |
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