Recap: Ducks Earn Point in 2-1 Shootout Loss on Milestone Evening

On a milestone night, the Ducks came up just short.
Playing the second half of a back-to-back, the Ducks dug deep and earned a hard-fought point in a 2-1 shootout loss against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.

Ryan Miller made 44 saves through regulation and overtime, and helped push the Ducks to the sixth round of the shootout, but a goal from Joonas Donskoi and a follow-up miss from Brandon Montour finished off an entertaining matchup between two Pacific Division rivals.
Corey Perry scored the lone goal for the Ducks, who fell to 6-6-2 (14 points) on the season.
"I thought we were engaged in the game right from the opening faceoff," said Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle. "This is a hard building to come into. They really like to come at you in the first five to ten minutes and try to take the momentum. They have a robust fan base that keeps them energized. I thought we did a good job keeping them out of that."
Joel Ward scored the game-tying goal in the third period for San Jose, which improved to 8-5-0 (16 points). Martin Jones stopped 25-of-26 shots in regulation and overtime and added five more in the shootout to seal the win.
Four Ducks reached milestones tonight. First, it marked Andrew Cogliano's 800th consecutive game. Cogliano became the fourth NHL player to do so and the third player in the NHL, MLB or NBA to play 800 from the start of his career. In addition, Perry appeared in his 900th career NHL game (all with Anaheim), becoming the second Duck to reach 900 games behind only Teemu Selanne, who finished his career with 966 games with Anaheim. Tonight also represented Derek Grant's 100th career NHL game, his 14th with the Ducks. Lastly, Carlyle - the winningest head coach in Ducks history - reached 800 career NHL games as a head coach. Now in his ninth season as the bench boss of the Ducks (2005-2012, 2016-present), Carlyle has been the head coach behind 612 of those 800 games, going 325-211-76.
The Ducks preached the importance of getting off to a better start, and tonight they were rewarded with the game's opening goal. It came off a breakaway from Perry, who snuck behind the Sharks defense before beating Jones with a snap shot that snuck through the five hole. The goal, his third of the season, was his first since a two-goal performance in the season opener against Arizona. It was also Perry's 49th career point against the Sharks (25g/24a) in 66 games. Assisting on the goal was Grant, who extended his career-high point streak to four games (4 points, 1g/3a). The assist also gave Grant eight points in his past eight games (3g/5a).

Goaltending highlighted the middle frame, especially from the Ducks' side of the ice, as Miller was forced to make several ten-bell saves. Perhaps his best came midway through the second period when he made two consecutive stops - the first on a slap shot from the point and the second a point-blank left-pad stop on Chris Tierney. At the other end, Jones came on strong at the tail end of the period when he made two consecutive stops on Jakob Silfverberg in the closing seconds.
The Sharks tied the game at the 11:57 mark of the third period when they were the recipients of a fortunate bounce. An odd carom off a stanchion placed the puck directly into center ice where Ward picked it up in full flight. Upon entering the zone, the veteran forward dished it to Barclay Goodrow on a two-on-one. Though Miller was able to make the initial stop, the rebound was punched into the crease where Ward was stationed.
Miller stood tall again in overtime, making four saves including a breakaway to push the game to a shootout. After Joe Pavelski led off with a goal, the Ducks responded in the second round with Rickard Rakell's backhander. Miller and Jones traded saves until the sixth round when Donskoi used a backhand-forehand move to sweep the puck past the stripe. Montour had a chance to prolong the shootout, but his snap shot was gloved by Jones.
"He gave us a chance," Carlyle said of Miller. "That's all you can ask of your goaltender. He was outstanding in net for us. We lost the shootout, but we still got a point off a back-to-back in a really tough situation. We weren't very proud of our 60 minutes of hockey last night. We only felt we played 40, but tonight I felt we played 60 minutes-plus."
The Ducks will return to Anaheim to open a five-game homestand beginning Tuesday against the LA Kings.
Below is a closer look at Cogliano's consecutive games streak.

MOST CONSECUTIVE GAMES TO START A CAREER (NHL, MLB, NBA)

| RK | PLAYER | LEAGUE | TEAM | DATE RANGE | CONSECUTIVE GAMES TO START CAREER | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Doug Jarvis | NHL | MTL/WSH/HFD | Oct. 8, 1975 - Oct. 10, 1987 | 964 | | 2 | Johnny Kerr | NBA | SYR/PHI/BAL | Oct. 31, 1954-Nov. 4, 1965 | 844 | | 3 | Andrew Cogliano | NHL | EDM/ANA | Oct. 4, 2007 - present | 800 |

MOST CONSECUTIVE GAMES IN NHL HISTORY

| RK | PLAYER | TEAM | DATE RANGE | CONSECUTIVE GAMES | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Doug Jarvis | MTL/WSH/HFD | Oct. 8, 1975 - Oct. 10, 1987 | 964 | | 2 | Garry Unger | TOR/DET/STL/ATL | Feb. 24, 1968 - Dec. 21, 1979 | 914 | | 3 | Steve Larmer | CHI | Oct. 6, 1982 - Apr. 15, 1993 | 884 | | 4 | Andrew Cogliano | EDM/ANA | Oct. 4, 2007 - present | 800 |