Dostál, Strome bedevil New Jersey in another late Ducks win

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Another conference leader skated out of Honda Center with a loss on Tuesday night, as the Anaheim Ducks closed out 2024 with another third-period push.

Ryan Strome nailed a slap shot with just over three minutes to play for his second straight game-winning goal to back up a stellar night by Lukáš Dostál in the Anaheim crease, as the Ducks knocked off the New Jersey Devils, 3-2.

Anaheim (15-17-4, 34 points) has beaten West-leading Winnipeg and East-leading New Jersey (24-13-3, 51 points) in the last two weeks, with third-period pushes in their each of their last five victories.

“I think the biggest thing is we’re focusing on what we’re doing out there,” Robby Fabbri said, “and not necessarily the other team. We know that if we stick to our game and play to our identity, that will give us the best chance to win every night.

“Any given night, any team can win in this league.”

Anaheim is 14-0-1 when scoring three or more goals this season. Despite the three goals against the Devils, the Ducks remained tied with Nashville for the least goals scored in the NHL.

“One of the things we preach because we don’t score a lot is being diligent defensively and being responsible,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “We’ve said it all along, if you play good defense, your offense will grow from it. There’s no doubt that we could’ve had more than three goals in a lot of games, but we’ve had a hard time scoring.”

Dostál denied 15 New Jersey shots in the first period and finished with 31 saves in the game to pick up the victory.

“When the puck came from the blue line and I created a rebound or something, I always had time to cover it,” Dostál said about the net-front defense. “All the credit goes to the boys, because they did a hell of a job blocking shots, tying up the stick, they kept a lot of shots outside. They helped me tonight.”

Troy Terry scored on Anaheim’s first shot of the game, and Fabbri finished a two-on-one chance to a 2-0 lead in the third period.

The Devils got goals from a Jonas Siegenthaler point shot and a Timo Meier snipe to tie the game, 2-2, with 6:40 remaining. Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves.

Anaheim hits the road in 2025 with a back-to-back Canadian set in Winnipeg and Edmonton on Jan. 2 and 3. The Ducks are back at Honda Center on Jan. 5 against Tampa Bay.

The first period was all Devils, except for the ever-so-slight snag of Dostál and Terry.

As the physicality ramped up midway through the opening frame, Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano each crashed the end boards to force a turnover. Strome made the heads up play to find Terry in the slot, who buried Anaheim’s first shot on goal for the lead, 1-0, 10 minutes into the game.

Otherwise, New Jersey kept its foot on the gas while continually ramming into the “Dost-wall.”

Timo Meier rang the crossbar 40 seconds in, and with the Ducks already up 1-0, Dougie Hamilton nailed the iron again on New Jersey’s first power play.

Dostál denied Nico Hischier on the doorstep of a cross-ice play on the first power play, and the 24-year-old Czech netminder stood up to six shots on the Devils’ second power play.

“It’s pretty special when either goalie in the net can give us a chance to win every night,” Fabbri said. “They’ve been great behind us. That allows us to get to our game and play our game.”

New Jersey outshot Anaheim, 15-5, in the first period and dominated the underlying stats. The Devils had the edge in shot attempts (35-12), scoring chances (15-6), high-danger chances (6-1) and earned nearly 89% of the expected goals.

“We were sleeping in the first period,” Cronin said. “We looked sloppy, disjointed. We weren’t handling the puck well. They were playing a real fast game, so it magnified some of the disconnectivity. We were fortunate to get out of that 1-0.”

Anaheim was better defensively in the second period, but the Ducks power play woes continued in the middle frame, as Anaheim went 0-for-3 with six shots on their man-advantages. Anaheim hasn’t scored in their last 16 attempts over the past four games, and the Ducks have one power-play goal in their last 31 attempts.

Jackson LaCombe made some excellent defensive plays on Jack Hughes in the period, including one that sprang Robby Fabbri on a breakaway, but Fabbri hit the post.

Fabbri made up for it four minutes into the third period.

Brian Dumoulin dug the puck off the wall in the defensive zone, and sent Cutter Gauthier streaking through the neutral zone. Gauthier push up the ice for a two-on-one with Fabbri, and Gauthier dished from left to right for Fabbri to cut back in and finish, 2-0. 

Fabbri scored his fourth goal in five games. It’s the eighth goal in nine games since the line with Mason McTavish was formed.

New Jersey finally got on the board 92 seconds later, as its aggressive forecheck finally paid off.

The Devils kept the puck alive down low, and clearing attempt by Alex Killorn went to Siegenthaler at the point. The Swiss defender zipped one through traffic from the point to claw one back, 2-1.

New Jersey evened the score with just under seven minutes to play, as Meier cut into the Ducks zone to zing one over Dostál’s glove, 2-2.

Radko Gudas stepped up to knock down Meier as he took the shot and stood over the fallen body. A fracas ensued, as the Ducks had a hot temper following a non-call of a high-stick at the other end of the ice.

Three minutes later, it was Strome in the clutch for a second straight game.

One shift after Gauthier rang the far post from the right circle, Strome wound up for a blistering slap shot to the far corner to put Anaheim back in front, 3-2.

Dostál made four saves down the stretch to lock up the victory.

Game Notes

• Anaheim defenseman Olen Zellweger was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game, as the Ducks ran with the same line-up as Sunday’s win over Edmonton. Pavel Mintyukov again took his spot in the line-up.

• Ducks players arrived to Honda Center wearing t-shirts to commemorate former teammate Cam Fowler’s 1,000th career NHL game. Fowler hit the milestone earlier in the day playing in the Winter Classic for the St. Louis Blues. Fowler, who played his first 989 career games with Anaheim, scored two goals at Wrigley Field.

• Injured Anaheim forward Trevor Zegras took to the ice in an impromptu morning skate at Honda Center on Tuesday. Zegras underwent surgery for a torn meniscus on Dec. 12 and was projected to be out six weeks.