Veteran goalie John Gibson giving Anaheim Ducks ‘sense of calmness’

By Jim Bender, The Canadian Press on January 2, 2025.

Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson (36) covers the rebound on a shot from Winnipeg Jets' Cole Perfetti (91) as teammate Adam Lowry (17) rushes in and Ducks' Mason McTavish (23) defends during overtime period NHL action in Winnipeg on Thursday, January 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG – The pre-game anticipation was for Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck to become the second-fastest goalie to crack the 300-win milestone.

But another netminder stole the show Thursday night.

John Gibson stopped 27 of 30 shots as the Anaheim Ducks battled back to beat the Jets 4-3 in overtime before a sellout crowd of 15,225 at Canada Life Centre.

Troy Terry scored two goals, including the game winner in OT, and added an assist to lead the Ducks. But he took the time to praise Gibson.

“He’s been kind of the man here since I got here, so he’s been doing that for a long time,” Terry said. “You know, I think he’s extremely underappreciated in the NHL. I think he’s genuinely one of the best goalies in this league. And I think for him to miss a lot in the start of the year, be sick coming out of the break, it just seems every time he goes in there, he just gives you that sense of calmness and he makes the big saves.”

One of those saves was stopping Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers on a breakaway in OT.

“You can’t say enough good things about him,” Terry said. “He’s one of our leaders. Just some of the adversity he’s dealt with in the last two years with all kinds of different stuff, and it seems he comes back and it’s the same for us every night.”

Terry added that Gibson deserved the assist he was given on the game-winning goal because the goaltender poked the puck away from Cole Perfetti.

“He’s a veteran,” said Ducks coach Greg Cronin. “He’s been around a long time, so I didn’t have any doubt that he was going to come out and play well tonight.”

It was Anaheim’s third straight victory and the second consecutive loss for the Jets (27-11-2), who blew leads of 2-0 and 3-2 on Thursday.

After the Jets went up 3-2 late in the third period, Radko Gudas forced overtime when his screened shot from the point beat Hellebuyck with 1:50 left.

“We’re diggin’ and scrapin’ and clawin’,” Cronin said. “We have a hard time scoring and I thought tonight was a really good bounce after we get down 2-0.

“The good thing is the bench was staying calm and positive. We were very fortunate to get the third goal on the pulled goalie there. I don’t know how it went in, but I think we just have a really good mentality as a team. We don’t get too rattled by what the score is.”

Leo Carlsson also scored for Anaheim (16-17-4).

“(The Ducks are) a young group that’s got a lot of speed,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel. “They transition really well. We watched them do it against Edmonton and New Jersey this last week. If you’re going to make mistakes, they’re going to capitalize.

“They’re a young team that’s added some veterans and they’re trying to play a certain way, and tonight, we fed them with some of the mistakes we made and gave them some opportunities.”

Alex Iafallo, Adam Lowry and Mark Scheifele scored for Winnipeg. Josh Morrissey assisted on two of the markers.

Hellebuyck stopped 20 of 24 shots.

“It’s a hard league,” Cronin said. “Every team has players that can score goals and defend. It’s being able to sustain a style of hockey that’s going to allow you to win, give you the best chance to win, and that’s what we’ve been focusing on.”

NOTES: Winnipeg headed into the game leading the NHL with 39 power-play goals and a 32.5 per cent conversion rate, but were shut out in two tries. “¦ The Jets now lead the NHL with 145 goals. “¦ With an assist on Scheifele’s goal, Gabe Vilardi extended his point streak to five games. “¦ Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier had his five-game point streak snapped.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2025.