TAMPA, Fla. _ The Anaheim team that rolled into Tampa on Tuesday is not known for its offensive firepower.
This Ducks squad that rolled into the arena ranked 29th in the NHL in goals. It has tallied more than two goals in only 10 games this season. Its power play ranked 27th in the league.
Yet somehow, the Ducks roll out of Amalie Arena with two points and a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Anaheim's first road victory since Oct. 14 also snapped a three-game Lightning winning streak.
All this lackluster Ducks offense needed: 48 seconds.
Anaheim left wing Nick Ritchie kicked off the 48 seconds with a back-handed power-play goal that he batted out of the air. It ricocheted off the glass to the front of the net for Ritchie to slap it in the net.
"You don't see it that often where a shot goes off the glass and goes right back in front of the net and they whack it home," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "That's a big break for them."
Then before the Lightning (18-8-1) could re-group, Carter Rowney added to that lead on the next shift to give Anaheim a 3-1 lead with 14:21 left in the third period.
"I thought the first two periods were pretty even, kind of a back and forth style," forward Ryan Callahan said. "They get one off the glass and one the next shift ... in a game like that where it's hard to get chances, we're not putting it in the net, those two goals are pretty big."
The Ducks managed to find a way to slow down a Lightning team that started fast in the first three games of the homestand. Tampa Bay came into the game with 10 first-period goals over that span. But against the Ducks, the Lightning did not score in the opening frame.
Goaltender Ryan Miller deserves most of the credit for that. In addition to a strong first period, Miller went on to stop 34 of 35 shots faced.
It's another successful game for Miller against the Lightning. He came into the game with a 22-10-0 record, a 2.60 GAA average and .911 save percentage all-time against the Lightning.
"We expected that from him," forward J.T. Miller said. "He obviously made some big saves when they needed him."
But he wasn't perfect. Brayden Point made sure of that.
The Ducks looked as if they would head into the second intermission with a 1-0 lead after defenseman Josh Manson scored with 7:56 left in the game. While Anaheim held the lead, Miller continued to make impressive save after impressive save. One of those came on a shot from Point as he snuck behind the Anaheim defense.
But Point didn't miss when he faced Miller head on the next time. Nikita Kucherov fed him the puck and Point crashed the net for a one-timer to tie the game at 1 heading into the second intermission. The goal extended Kucherov's point streak to seven games and Point's goal streak to three games.
"Anaheim is a big time and they can skate," Cooper said. "I think they nullified a few things early on us because of their size down low. By the second period, we were buzzing. To come out of the second period just 1-1, I thought we deserved a little bit better fate."
But Ryan Miller almost singlehandedly ensured otherwise. In the third period, he nullified a 5-on-3 opportunity midway through and a 6-on-4 opportunity for the Lightning at the end of the game.
"Usually in a game like that, we get three or four," Cooper said. "Tip my hat to the goalie."
