Center Ryan Getzlaf sealed Thursday night’s 2-0 Ducks victory over the San Jose Sharks by scoring a key insurance goal at 17:35 of the third period in the first game of an opening-round Stanley Cup playoff series at HP Pavilion.

It came nine seconds after Getzlaf had exited the penalty box — and followed some very anxious moments.

“It’s a long two minutes when you’re sitting there with a one-goal lead against a team like that with a dangerous power play,” Getzlaf said after the Ducks’ Friday afternoon practice.

After the Ducks had already survived a third-period slashing penalty on his linemate, right wing Corey Perry, Getzlaf went off for elbowing San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic at 15:26.

As fate would have it, just about the time Getzlaf was returning to the ice, Vlasic partially fanned on a neutral-zone pass, Ducks rookie Mike Brown picked up the puck and fed Getzlaf, who beat Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov high on the stick side from above the faceoff circles.

“Obviously, I didn’t think it was a great penalty but I did get my elbow up — not intentionally by any means,” Getzlaf said. “Our killers did a great job and I was able to come out of the box and contribute like that. It really puts a relief on you — that’s for sure.”

[Source: Ducks.FreedomBlogging.com]

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