ANAHEIM – Anaheim and Colorado are tied for third place in the Wild Card grouping of teams after weekend games.
“Obviously we are not happy with the way we have been playing the last couple of games,” said Six Nations Brandon Montour following the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Sunday. “Tampa is considered the best team in the league right now and to play a close game like that is obviously a positive, but I think every team can beat every other team.”
Montour liked the effort his Ducks gave especially in the first period when they held the ground in a 0-0 first period tie. John Gibson was nothing short of amazing on several Tampa shots to keep the Ducks close.
“We didn’t have a very good start,” said coach Ducks Randy Carlisle. “They had control of the puck much more than we did, early in the game. We were standing around watching and not moving our feet. To allow that to a skilled group like the Lightning they are going to make us look pretty ordinary, and they did.”
He was much more pleased with his team’s efforts as the game went on, but in a close game, every aspect of the game becomes the difference between a win and a loss.
“They went one-for-two on the powerplay and we went 0-1,” Carlisle said.
There was what appeared to be an Anaheim goal called back after a review, which would have made a big difference, “but it is what it is, and that was the call,” said Carlisle.
Nov. 9th, Anaheim turned the visiting Vancouver Canucks away 4-1, in a game where Montour scored from the centre slot with a rocket wrist shot low to the stick side on a powerplay for his fifth goal of the season. Earlier, Montour was set up beautifully on the edge of the crease but was stopped. Silverberg scored two goals within 45 seconds to secure the Anaheim win.
Wednesday, the Ducks host the Bruins and Sunday they will travel to Florida to face the Panthers and Monday they head back west to visit the Sharks.
Montour is 5-4 for nine points to date, tied with Jakob Silfverberg who had a big weekend.