A surprising goaltender change following the first period may have been just what the Ducks needed on Sunday night. After surrendering three unanswered goals to the visiting Dallas Stars in the opening 20 minutes, Anaheim came storming back to take control for the final two stanzas. Forward Emerson Etem scored his first of the season (shorthanded), their power play came through and rookie goaltender Frederik Andersen picked up the victory in his first NHL game.
Over in the other locker room, the Stars were obviously dejected and searching for answers after dropping back-to-back games in Southern California.
Here are some quick post-game quotes collected from both teams:
– Ryan Getzlaf on the overall game: “After that first period, we came out a little flat. That happens sometimes when you’re talking about going on the road, and getting ready for the road. Our guys did a great job. That’s a big character win for us. ”
– Getzlaf on the power play: “We needed our power play tonight, and we came through. That’s a nice feeling for our group. We’ve been working in practice, working in games, and they weren’t going in. That was rewarding.”
– Teemu Selanne on the overall game: “Everybody took more responsibilities, and we started doing the things we need to do to get better. It was a good character win, coming back from two goals. This team never stopped believing we could come back, even last year. That’s the one strength we have right now. Hopefully we can use this again as a confidence boost for the road trip.”
– Selanne on heading into the road trip on a winning note: “We were talking about it before the game. Let’s finish the homestand strong. It’s going to carry on the road. Getting a good start on the road is important, too, but finishing the homestand is always important.”
– Coach Bruce Boudreau on the play of Getzlaf and Perry: “They showed true leadership. They took it upon themselves early in the second period when we were pretty flat, and needing to get going. They came up and started the ball rolling, and they never let up. When your stars are the best players on the ice, it’s always a good sign.”
– Boudreau on the hit to Dustin Penner: “It was tough seeing him groggy getting up. You always worry about your players when they’re knocked out, or close to being knocked out, but he seems fine.”
– Stars’ Brenden Dillon: “We knew that coming into this weekend that we were going up against two teams that were playing really well. All four lines on both teams are skilled and they’re and they’re strong, and they are fast too. We can’t use that as an excuse that we were surprised by anything, but at the same time, we just didn’t play our game.”
– Stars’ Ryan Garbutt: “We came out strong after playing last night, got up to a 3-1 lead and it was really unfortunate for us to have that fall through…It is frustrating for sure. Our fourth and third lines that work really hard, not having a lot to show for it, finally broke through tonight. We are going to have to bounce back, always going to be tough for us, but I definitely think we’ve got the guys in this room and are going to be able to turn it around.
– Coach Lindy Ruff: “We had a good first period, maybe not as good as the score indicated. We got a couple of breaks but you know to come out to start the second period and give them a goal right off the bat on what I felt was a bad change by our team, was pretty disappointing.”
– More from Ruff: “I think their power play must have had somewhere between 10 and 15 shots and our lack of discipline hurt us again on a couple calls. If you’re going to go on the road and you’re going to lead a game 3-1 and you’re going to take some of the penalties we took, you are inviting some trouble. That was disappointing.”
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