The Ducks douse the Mammoth

Five seconds from dark, Anaheim burns on

Five seconds left

The Anaheim Ducks were five seconds from going cold. They trailed by a goal in a quarterfinal at Honda Center with their goalie pulled for an extra attacker, and the clock was running out on the third period. Then Troy Terry slipped a backhand home at 19:55, set up by Chris Kreider and Cutter Gauthier. A flame that had already outlasted the Sharks and the Stars lit back up.

The stakes were simple. Lose, and the Ducks' run ended in the quarterfinals. Win, and they stayed one of just five candles still burning.

Utah takes the lead

Jackson LaCombe, a defenseman, opened the scoring with a wrist shot at 15:52 of the first. At 15:53, Liam O'Brien and Ross Johnston dropped the gloves. The Utah Mammoth, who had snuffed the Predators and the Blues on the way here, answered with two slap shots: Dylan Guenther at 18:14 of the second, 22:22 after LaCombe's goal, and Logan Cooley at 9:19 of the third. Karel Vejmelka made 23 saves for Utah, and for most of the third that looked like enough.

Zellweger finishes it

Overtime lasted 1:50. Olen Zellweger, another Anaheim defenseman, fired a wrist shot past Vejmelka off feeds from Beckett Sennecke and Alex Killorn, and the Mammoth's candle went dark. Lukas Dostal stopped 16 of 18 shots for the Ducks, a club that finished 25th of 32 last season and burns on.