It was something old, something new as goalie Ryan Miller made 23 saves in his last career home start and 20-year-old Trevor Zegras had a goal and an assist in the Anaheim Ducks' easy 6-2 home victory Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings.
The 40-year-old Miller, who announced this week that he will retire at the end of the season, earned his 391st career victory, while appearing in his 795th all-time game, tied for 18th all-time among goaltenders with Rogie Vachon. Both teams congratulated Miller on the ice afterward.
Zegras, playing in his 20th career game and third since a return from the AHL after a position switch to center, scored his second career goal. The ninth overall selection in the 2019 NHL Draft is the centerpiece of Anaheim's youth movement.
Danton Heinen and Jacob Larsson added a goal and two assists apiece for the Ducks (16-29-7, 39 points). Nicolas Deslauriers, Max Jones and Max Comtois also scored goals for Anaheim, which went 4-4-0 in the season series against the Kings (19-24-6, 44 points). The teams split four consecutive games going back to Monday.
The Kings ended Miller's chance for a shutout when Brendan Lemieux scored at 3:51 of the third period. Los Angeles' Tobias Bjornfot added his first career goal with 1:48 to play and goaltender Calvin Petersen had 27 saves.
While Saturday's final Ducks home game was the team's chance to celebrate Miller on its terms after four years with the team, Anaheim does have four more road games remaining on its schedule if it wants to give the veteran at least one more appearance.
The victory made Miller just 4-8-1 this season, but he improved to 391-289-1-86 all time with the Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim. He has the most career victories of any goaltender born in the United States, with the East Lansing, Mich., native setting the mark in a Ducks uniform in February 2019.
The Kings saw their fading playoff chances take yet another blow as they took a fourth loss in the past six games. Los Angeles is nine points behind the fourth-place Blues with seven games remaining.
--Field Level Media
Los Angeles | Anaheim | |
Tobias Bjornfot 1 | Points | Danton Heinen 3 |
Tobias Bjornfot 1 | Goals | Danton Heinen 1 |
Andreas Athanasiou 1 | Assists | Danton Heinen 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Calvin Petersen .818 | Save Percentage | Ryan Miller .920 |
Calvin Petersen 27 | Saves | Ryan Miller 23 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Los Angeles | 25 | 2 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 4 | 26 |
Anaheim | 33 | 6 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 4 | 27 |