One of the newest Ducks goaltenders who the Ducks acquired at the trade deadline from the Calgary Flames logged his first win in a Anaheim jersey last night against the New York Islanders. Curtis McElhinney replaced a struggling Jonas Hiller 2:42 into the second after Kyle Okposo scored to give the Islanders a one-goal lead. The Isles jammed in the pucks around Hiller's crease, created traffic in front and squeezed the puck around Hiller. Hiller headed straight for the locker room to spend a couple minutes by himself to recollect before he was shown on the bench again. He was clearly upset and disappointed through the whole second period and third.
McElhinney made big save after big save and allowed one goal to John Tavares it looked like the kids were giving the Ducks a run for their money. The two Ducks to score in the first period was Matt Beleskey and Lubomir Visnovsky. Beleskey put the Ducks on the board first. Visnovsky also scored the tying goal forcing it into overtime. Teemu Selanne had an assist on both goals passing Bobby Orr in assists. McElhinney bailed out the team in front of him a couple times and made timely and big saves. Jason Blake scored the third goal off a deflection of a slapshot from Steve Eminger sliding it past Martin Biron. Only 14 seconds into overtime Saku Koivu had a breakaway and shot it past Biron; the Ducks beat Biron for the first time as he was 8-0 against the Ducks in his career. He is now 1-8 in his career vs Anaheim. Hiller, who was upset was happy when Anaheim beat the Isles to secure two points.
Hiller will most likely play on Sunday against the Colorado Avalanche a team who is hot as of late, who has been for the entire season, a team who was supposed to sink to the bottom of the ocean as if it's ankle was tied with cinder block. They're 5th in the Western Conference and in the playoff picture. Recomposed Hiller most likely will play much better against the Avs than he did against the Isles.
McElhinney is 26 years old and was previously struggling with the Flames but was given a new chance, as he was sent to Anaheim where he seems to be happy and the fans were happy with his performance against the Islanders. McElhinney is a goalie who somewhat flies under the radar despite being on a Canadian team. He played behind Mikka Kippursoff a well known goaltender drafted by San Jose. T he Ducks gave up on Vesa Toskala even though they did not see him play in a Anaheim uniform. Toskala even got his gear to match the team, shortly afterward he was on a plane back to Canada; where he had issues getting through immigration. Hoewver, he was reunited with former Sharks goaltender Kippursoff.
McElhinney was definitely trying to make a name for himself. Two years younger than Hiller the two can as long as McElhinney remains with Anaheim, bounce suggestions off one another. McElhinney can learn from Hiller just by watching him and listenting to his suggestions as Hiller could possibly learn some things from McElhinney. If McElhinney stays with Anaheim he looks to be promising.
SCORERS:
1st Period:
New York:
Richard Park Assists: Jon Sim
Anaheim:
Matt Beleskey Assists: Scott Niedermayer, Todd Marchant
Lubomir Visnovsky Assists: Teemu Selanne, Kyle Chipchura
New York:
Kyle Okposo Assists: Sean Bergenheim, Richard Park
2nd Peirod:
New York:
Power Play Goal: Kyle Okposo Assists: Mark Streit, John Tavares
Power Play Goal: John Tavares Assists: Frans Nielson, Mark Streit
3rd Period
Anaheim
Power Play Goal: Jason Blake Assists: Steve Eminger, Saku Koivu
Lunomir Visnovsky Assists: Teemu Selanne, Ryan Getzlaf
Over-Time
Anaheim
Saku Koivu Assists: Unassisted
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