The Anaheim Ducks celebrate after a game winning 2nd overtime goal from center Mason McTavish (23) during an NHL game against the Los Angeles Kings on November 28, 2025 in Anaheim, Calif.Zach CavanaghSat, November 29, 2025 at 2:43 AM UTC·8 min readANAHEIM, Calif. – It’s not pretty, it’s never not exciting, and it’s working for the Anaheim Ducks.
The Ducks overcame again overcame a multi-goal deficit, scored the game-tying goal in the final two minutes of a game for an NHL-leading fourth time this season and again excelled past regulation, as Troy Terry and Mason McTavish scored in the shootout to secure a 5-4 win over the visiting Los Angeles Kings in their annual Black Friday matinee at Honda Center.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLeo Carlsson, No. 91, scored with 91 seconds remaining to tie the game on his third point of the night, and Ville Husso came up with spectacular saves in the final minute of regulation, overtime and the shootout for 23 stops in his first start with Anaheim this season.
“Great comeback,” Chris Kreider said. “We’ve had a lot of interesting games, spotting teams leads. Good job at coming back and fighting back. It's probably not a lot of fun for the coaches, but probably fun for the fans.”
Kreider scored the Ducks first game-tying goal of the game on a power play goal in the second period. Olen Zellweger scored Anaheim’s second game-tying goal later in the second period, and Pavel Mintyukov’s first of the season and Carlsson’s 13th equalized in the third period.
The Ducks have erased three separate deficits twice this season, the first time in franchise history a team has accomplished the feat.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I hope you guys see that too,” Carlsson said of the team’s attitude this season. “Different team. Different hunger. Different mentality too. It's been great so far, season.”
Alex Laferriere put the Kings up 1-0, Kevin Fiala got Los Angeles up 2-1 and Alex Turcotte and Joel Edmundson put the Kings up by two goals in the third period. Darcy Kuemper stopped 27 of 31 shots. Former Ducks defenseman Brian Dumoulin recorded two assists for LA.
Anaheim’s knack for comebacks is extremely impressive, but the Ducks have allowed the first goal in 16 of 24 games this season with a 7-8-1 record in those contests. There’s still improvement to be had for the Pacific Division leaders.
“I think on a bench, we never feel like we're out of a game. It's almost like we get more angry when they all get down by one or two or in behind, knowing that the clock's working,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “So, we'll say fortunate, but I'd like it when they pull their goalie (instead of us).”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAnaheim (15-8-1, 31 points) heads out for a quick back-to-back road trip at Chicago on Sunday and at St. Louis on Monday before returning for a three-game homestand starting next Wednesday, Dec. 3 against Utah.
Husso The Boss
It was a surprise to everyone but Joel Quenneville to see Ville Husso lead the Ducks out for warm-ups on Friday, but Husso backed up the confidence with a dialed-in afternoon.
Husso made a game-saving stop following Carlsson’s game-tying goal by tracking right-to-left for a glove save, and he pulled out another in overtime pushing left-to-right for the blocker stop. Husso then stayed collected on LA’s two shootout attempts, with a little help from the post, to seal the win.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“That last save–he was great all night, but that last save saved the game for us,” Kreider said. “He played fantastic. We've had great goaltending all season. Got to continue to try to help out our goaltenders because we ask a lot from them every single night.”
Husso was signed to a two-year deal in the offseason to provide some insurance in the crease, as both the Ducks and San Diego Gulls dealt with multiple goalie injuries throughout the season.
The 30-year-old Finn had a strong training camp, but with Lukáš Dostál in place as the No. 1 and Petr Mrázek coming over in the John Gibson trade, he passed through waivers before the season and went down to the AHL San Diego.
Husso was called up on Wednesday, as Lukáš Dostál went down with an upper-body injury. Dostál is out two-to-three weeks, the team announced on Friday.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHusso played back-up to Petr Mrázek on Wednesday and took the start against Los Angeles. The two will likely trade starts over that three-week window, as Dostál heals up.
“I think we had confidence,” Quenneville said of Husso. “At the beginning of the year, we're sitting there, geez, it's, you know, we got him, we kept him, and we're happy. Getting him in there was something we thought about, and we’re looking at the four (games) in six days, and we got surprised the other day when we had to change starters the day of the game. I expect them both to get a game here in the next couple of games.”
Defense Still Needs Tightening
The Ducks have found ways to outscore their problems at numerous points this season, but as Friday and the last few games have shown, the margins have become increasingly thin.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAs mentioned above, the Ducks have allowed the first goal 16 times in 24 games, including the first two goals each of the previous two games.
Generally speaking, Anaheim’s defense has certainly looked miles better than last season, but the issue lies in the high-impact mistakes.
“I think that sometimes it looks like there's nothing happening, and all of a sudden, they got an A plus chance out of nowhere,” Quenneville said. “I think that's something we gotta make sure that we gotta kill the play till it's over, and take away the high, high quality danger plays, and I think that tonight, we were fortunate that we'd have to say we were very lucky there, the quality and the quantity they had late in the game.”
Several chances have come around the netfront, as the Ducks don’t necessarily tie up the opposing traffic and look for a quick release to block shots. However, when the shots aren’t blocked, it leads to those chaos chances around the crease off deflections and rebounds.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPart of that is all teams, including the Ducks, trying to get the puck to that money area around the net, and part of it is some loose coverage.
“They (Los Angeles) had two different kinds. They had wide-open nets on one-timers and seam plays, and they had that second touch around the net,” Quenneville said, “but we scored some goals like that, too. So I think that's where you get rewarded in this game, is that at the net, greasy goals, or no more than four feet away from the net. I think that's where the majority of the pucks go in anyway, so that's where the rewards are, and we said before the game, whoever's better at the net is gonna have some success today, and, I think, both teams got a point.”
After Wednesday’s game against Vancouver where similar goals led to a loss, Jackson LaCombe said the defensive corps could stand to play tighter, box out better and block more shots.
Either way, some things need to be locked down to avoid the chaotic track meets the Ducks have had to create to initiate their comebacks.
Pacifically Speaking
Anaheim (15-8-1, 31 points) once again fought off a challenge for the top spot in the Pacific Division for the second time this home stand, but once again, it came past regulation.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Ducks beat Vegas (10-6-8, 28 points) in overtime last Saturday, 4-3, and took down the Kings (11-6-7, 29 points) in the shootout on Friday afternoon.
Anaheim now has a four-point cushion from the playoff bubble and a two-point lead over Los Angeles in the division, but the division still remains impossibly close thanks to the “loser point” teams keep obtaining from overtime and shootouts.
The Ducks are doing their job within the division, going 4-2-0 in those games, but three of the four wins are past regulation. Anaheim beat San Jose in a 7-6 overtime thriller, plus two overtime wins over Vegas and the shootout against the Kings.
All of that means that while the Ducks have secured eight of the 12 possible divisional points, Anaheim has also given away seven of a possible 12 divisional points.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Ducks are the clear division leaders with 15 wins. San Jose (12-10-3, 27 points) is next with 12 but only four points behind Anaheim. Vegas has eight overtime/shootout losses, Los Angeles has seven and Seattle (11-6-6, 28 points) has six.
For as good as the Ducks’ start has been over the first quarter of the season, Anaheim needs to keep the foot on the gas and figure out the starting-from-behind problem to win in regulation or avoid tough regulation losses, as the Ducks took against lowly Vancouver (10-13-2, 22 points) on Wednesday.
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