Recap: Terry Wins it OT as Ducks Pull Off Opening Night Comeback

The Ducks scored the season's first goal in just 51 seconds and erased a two-goal third period deficit, earning a 5-4 comeback win tonight over the Seattle Kraken on Troy Terry's OT winner on Opening Night at Honda Center.
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The win gave Anaheim seven consecutive victories in home openers, dating back to 2017, and extended the club's point streak in home openers to ten games (8-0-2).
"To come back in front of these fans, it was infectious for us," Terry said. "You could feel the crowd. How early I scored the first one, I couldn't contain myself again. I think I jumped as high as I can jump into the glass. That was because the crowd was so good. It was easily one of those games where we didn't have it tonight. If it's game 45 and you're playing on the road and you don't have it, it swallows you up. But the crowd willed us there. It was opening night and it was one that they kind of willed us back."
Terry and Ryan Strome, the latter of whom was making his Anaheim debut, led the Ducks offensively with three-point nights. John Klingberg, Mason McTavish and Trevor Zegras each added multi-point efforts. Frank Vatrano also scored in his club debut.
With two assists, McTavish became the third player in NHL history to record multiple points in his first two season-opening games at 18 and 19 years old, joining Bobby Carpenter (1981-1982) and Ray Bourque (1979-1981).
John Gibson, making his seventh consecutive season-opening start for the Ducks, was excellent all night long, stopping 44-of-48 Seattle shots. Gibson is now just five wins from passing Guy Hebert (173) for second-most in Ducks history. He also assisted on Terry's overtime-winning goal.
"Massive performance by Gibson," head coach Dallas Eakins said. "We talk a lot around here about doing your job and Gibby certainly showed up and did his tonight. An incredible performance by Gibby. What a way to start the season for him."
Jared McCann, Andre Burakovsky, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Matty Beniers scored for Seattle. Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves.
The Kraken's gave the Ducks trouble all night long , striking three times before the midway point of the second period to give the visitors a commanding lead. The Ducks allowed three power-play goals just twice last season.
Anaheim wasted no time bringing the home crowd to its feet, taking an early lead just 51 seconds into the action. After the Ducks dumped the puck into the offensive zone, Strome hustled in on the forecheck, jarring the puck free and poking it along to McTavish in the slot. The rookie forward spun away from trouble, sliding a pass between Beniers' legs and right to Terry, who quickly whipped it by Grubauer to put the Ducks ahead.

The opening goal was the second fastest to start a season in Ducks history, trailing only Max Comtois' first career NHL tally at San Jose in 2018.
McTavish now owns five points (2-3=5) in 10 career NHL games. With the secondary assist, Strome registered his first point as a Duck.
Seattle tied the game midway through the period on the second half of consecutive power plays. With Dmitry Kulikov sitting for slashing, the Kraken worked the puck to McCann at the top of the left faceoff circle, where he stepped in and ripped a wrister over Gibson's blocker to level the score.
Gibson stepped up when twice tested a few minutes later. The first big stop came after a neutral zone collision sent Ducks defenders sprawling and Bjorkstrand in a lone on a breakaway, but the Anaheim netminder denied him with a blocker save. Moments later he shut down Ryan Donato on a couple of quick chances in tight.
Seattle jumped out ahead in the middle frame though on a couple more power-play goals.
The first came in the opening minute of the period when Burakovsky beat Gibson to the far side from the left circle, giving the Kraken a 2-1 edge. The second came shortly thereafter while Max Jones sat for tripping as Bjorkstrand ripped a shot from the slot just under the crossbar for a two-goal Seattle cushion.
Former Ducks draft pick Justin Schultz tallied assists on McCann and Bjorkstrand's goals for his 45th career multi-point game.
Chasing a two-goal deficit now, the Anaheim power play took its moment in the spotlight late in the second, giving the Ducks some life headed to the final stanza of regulation. After a shorthanded attack by Seattle proved unsuccessful, Zegras stretched a pass ahead for McTavish the other way, who stepped in on a 2-on-1 rush with Strome. McTavish hesitated to freeze the defense and waited until the last possible moment before delivering a textbook saucer pass to Strome for the tap-in goal on the backdoor.

The Ducks would be unable to initially capitalize on that new momentum early in the third as the Kraken restored their two-goal cushion on a defensive breakdown and subsequent rebound goal by Beniers.
Gibson kept Anaheim it in the third period though with a couple of quality stops which would prove monumental, most notably on a one-timer off the rush by Jordan Eberle.
Spurred by their goaltender's resilience and some line shuffling from Eakins, the Ducks once again got back in the game, this time on a pinpoint shot from distance by Vatrano. Strome carried the puck into the zone, drawing the defense towards him before setting up Vatrano in the high slot, where the explosive winger quickly fired a shot past an unscreened Grubauer to bring the Ducks back within a goal.

Vatrano and Klingberg both grabbed their first points as Ducks on the goal.
"I think we just had to get our feet under us," Gibson said. "That's a lot quicker team than we have been playing in the preseason. They've got four lines that can skate. We were chasing a little bit but once we settled down and got in our groove, we started playing our game and had some success."
The Ducks crawled all the way back with a power-play goal a few minutes after, with Zegras hammering home a one-time dish by Terry, bringing the sold-out Honda Center crowd to its feet with a blast that snuck by Grubauer on the short side.

"The building was rocking," Strome said. "When Zegras scored, it was deafening. It was unbelievable. It was really great to hear. It was awesome. Just a good two points. It wasn't pretty. It's not perfect. We can definitely build off of it."
Neither side would take many chances late in regulation, opting to try their luck in overtime. Anaheim would earn the crucial extra point on Terry's game-winner. After Gibson made a save on one end, the goaltender opted for an aggressive play, springing Terry with a stretch pass banked off the boards. Terry, despite being at the end of his shift, won the race to the net, lifting a backhand bid past Grubauer to clinch the win and send the Ducks fans into a frenzy.

"I saw we had numbers and I told the guys 'If you get a chance, take a chance and I'll do my best to keep it out the other way,'" Gibson said. "Nice play by Troy to score the goal and it was a good comeback. Obviously, we didn't have the best start through the first half. We've got to, maybe, tighten up that penalty kill and get on those details. Other than that, the way we came back, I thought we played a pretty good third period and found a way to win. Two points is two points."
"If you look at the talent we have, you're never out of a game. In the third period, we turned the tables," Strome added. "We put pucks behind their D. We played in their zone more. We had some guys make plays. When we kept the game simple for ourselves, it was almost a tale of two tapes."

The Ducks begin a five-game road trip Saturday in New York.