ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Ondrej Kase loves to celebrate his goals and those of a teammate when he's on the ice. This time, it was the Anaheim Ducks who were all too eager to mob the young rookie.
Kase stole the puck from Arizona goalie Mike Smith as he attempted to play it and scored with 35.6 seconds left for his first overtime winner to lift the Ducks to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night at Honda Center.
The Ducks (21-12-8) took over sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division thanks to Kase's heroics. It was also their first victory in a game decided in overtime after losing their first seven in the five-minute, 3-on-3 session.
Joseph Cramarossa gave the Ducks a first-period lead when Corey Perry's shot kicked in off his leg and Chris Wagner put them back up in the second but the Coyotes responded each time. Martin Hanzal forged one tie early in the second and Oliver Ekman-Larsson got a power-play goal in the third.
Ekman-Larsson, the Coyotes' star defenseman and the next face of the franchise after venerable captain Shane Doan hangs up his skates, took away a potential game-winner by Wagner. The forward who's long been up and down with the Ducks fulfilled the hockey credo that a shot on goal is never a bad play.
Coaches routinely grumble that their players don't shoot the puck enough and Wayne Gretzky said you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take. Wagner didn't hesitate in taking one off a faceoff win by linemate Logan Shaw.
Wagner managed to squeeze a wrist shot through a small hole Smith left open as he tried to lock down the post. The veteran netminder might have been feeling the effects of a point-blank save on Antoine Vermette just moments prior as he took some time to get back to his feet and in position.
It didn't matter to Wagner, who got his third goal of the season in just his second game since being recalled from his latest stint with the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League. The 25-year-old is taking advantage of Ryan Getzlaf being sidelined due to a lower-body injury.
Arizona's Tobias Rieder had thought he had a breakaway opportunity to give his team the lead before Wagner's goal. Rieder never got the shot off as it appeared that Ducks rookie defensemen Brandon Montour threw his stick at the puck as he was racing back to defend.
No penalty call was made and Rieder barked at the official, perhaps also wondering along with Coyotes coach Dave Tippett why a penalty shot wasn't awarded. Martin Hanzal's goal halted Gibson's shutout streak at 119 minutes, 25 seconds dating back to Sunday against Philadelphia.
