GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Anaheim gave up plenty of scoring chances, probably too many. The Ducks took a penalty with two minutes left, another with a minute left, and faced a 6-on-3 when Arizona pulled its goalie.
John Gibson didn’t let anything through and now the Ducks are 2-0 to start the season despite missing a string of key players.
Gibson stopped 41 shots, rookie Max Comtois scored for the second straight game to open his NHL career and the Ducks beat the Coyotes 1-0 on Saturday night.
“When you get to the end of the game, it’s about sacrifice and doing the little things,” Gibson said. “We really did that.”
The Ducks and Coyotes played a tight game until Comtois scored in the closing seconds of the second period. He had a goal 49 seconds into Anaheim’s season-opening win over San Jose.
The Coyotes had plenty of chances after that and picked up the pressure in the third period.
With 2:01 left, Anaheim’s Jakob Silfverberg was sent off for delay of game after sending a puck over the glass from his own end. Carter Rowney then was called for high-sticking with a minute left and the Coyotes pulled goalie Antti Raanta with about 30 seconds left.
Nothing got through.
The Coyotes rushed some shots and Gibson stopped the ones that did get to him, closing out his 17th career shutout.
Arizona was shut out in consecutive games to open a season for the first time in 39 years as a franchise after opening with a 3-0 loss to Dallas.
“It’s a hard league to score and I thought we left some opportunities out there,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “And I thought we got a little antsy on that 5-on-3 instead of sticking to what we did in practice. We’ve got to score in that situation.”
The Ducks opened the season without injured forwards Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Ondrej Kase and Patrick Eaves. They still had plenty of offensive production in their opener, knocking off San Jose 5-2 behind three-point nights by Jakob Silfverberg and Richard Rakell.
Gibson was sharp against the Coyotes, turning away a couple of good chances in the first two periods.
Raanta stopped a pair of breakaways the first two periods, but was unable to come up with the stop on a mini breakaway by Comtois, who got behind Ilya Lyubushkin with 31 second left in the second.
“It’s one goal and you have to make that save,” said Raanta, who had 19 saves. “It’s tough to take, but keep working and believe that it’s coming.”
The Coyotes picked up the pressure to open the third, but Gibson kept turning them away, including Richard Panik’s quick wraparound attempt and later during the wild flurry at the end.
“You don’t have too many 6-on-3s,” Ducks center Adam Henrique said. “We got a couple good bounces, put a little pressure on it and obviously Gibby making a couple big saves was key for us.”
Notes: A moment of silence was held before the game for Sen. John McCain, a huge Coyotes fan who died this year. … The Coyotes are 14-6-0-2 in home openers since moving from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996. … The Ducks are 4-1-0 the past two seasons against Arizona. … Silfverberg had his fourth assist of the season on Comtois’ goal.
UP NEXT
Anaheim plays at Detroit on Monday.
Arizona plays at Anaheim on Tuesday.
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