5 Late (And Really Late) Ducks Playoff Game-Winners

ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com) — Late-game heroics are nothing new for the Ducks when it comes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but Jakob Silfverberg's tie-breaking goal with 21 seconds left in Game 2 of Anaheim's Pacific Division semifinal series on Saturday night was quite remarkable.

When Silfverberg skated out from the back wall and beat Winnipeg Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, it was the latest the Ducks have ever scored a playoff game-winner in regulation.

This look at some of the Ducks' more recent late-game and OT winners includes the previous record in regulation, as well as a game that spanned two days.

4-24-03: Anaheim 4, Dallas 3, 5OT 

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played a mighty long game in Dallas to start their Western Conference semifinal series against the Stars.

The fact that the game was settled in overtime is probably not a surprise since the Ducks would ultimately win seven times in sudden death en route to falling to New Jersey in a seven-game series the first time they made the Finals.

Still sporting the purple and jade green, the Mighty Ducks already had to outlast Detroit in three overtimes at the start of their quarterfinal series, and completed a sweep of the Red Wings with another OT win. That gave them a week off, and by the end of the April 24/25 game in Dallas they were probably very appreciative of the rest.

Petr Sykora notched the game-winner 48 seconds into the fifth overtime, putting the puck past Marty Turco after receiving a centering pass from Adam Oates when the Stars failed to clear the puck. Sykora only netted the game's second star, however, as Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 60 saves, including 40 in the overtimes. At the time, it was the fourth-longest game in NHL playoff history, and Sykora's goal came at 12:32 a.m. Central time, nearly six hours after the game began.

The Stars and Ducks had to come back about 37 hours later for Game 2, and Anaheim would take a 3-2 win. In overtime, of course.

5-28-07: Anaheim 3, Ottawa 2

Until Silfverberg's late tie-breaker on Saturday night, this was the gold standard for coming up big in regulation.

Trailing 2-1 on home ice in the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals, Ryan Getzlaf was able to draw the Ducks even with a goal about five minutes into the third period. The game-winner came off the stick of Travis Moen, who beat Ottawa's Ray Emery with assists from Scott and Rob Niedermayer with 2:51 to play.

Holding the 3-2 lead, the Ducks had to stave off a late power play after Chris Pronger was whistled for holding Dany Heatley's stick with 44 seconds to play.

Two nights later, Samuel Pahlsson provided his own version of late-game heroics with less than 6 minutes to play with an unassisted goal that gave the Ducks a 1-0 win and a 2-0 lead in the series. After dropping Game 3 in Ottawa, the Ducks would win Game 4 on the road and clinch the cup with a 6-2 victory at the Honda Center.

5-3-09: Anaheim 4, Detroit 3, 3OT

Todd Marchant and Jonas Hiller came up big for the Ducks in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series in Detroit.

Anaheim had leads of 2-1 and 3-2, but the Red Wings forged a 3-all tie on a goal by Johan Franzen with about 15 minutes to play. The teams would play another 56 minutes before Marchant beat Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood after skating from his own blue line with a pass from James Wisniewski. The goal came 1:15 into the third overtime.

How did the Ducks survive that long? Hiller's career-high 59 saves.

The win evened the series at 1-all heading to Anaheim, but unfortunately for the Ducks, their 2009 playoff run would end a week and half later when the Red Wings won Game 7 in Detroit. Dan Cleary scored the game winner with 3 minutes left, off assists from Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom, in the 4-3 victory.

5-8-13: Anaheim : Anaheim 3, Detroit 2, OT

Four of the seven games in this Western Conference quarterfinal series went to overtime, but Game 5 was the Ducks' lone win among them. Back home in Anaheim, the series was tied at 2-all with both losses coming in OT.

The Ducks would trail 1-0 and 2-1, but managed to tie the game on a late-second period power play goal from Getzlaf.

After a scoreless third period, it only took 1:54 in overtime for Nick Bonino to put the puck past Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard, after Ben Lovejoy slide a pass through the crease.

But the Ducks could not take advantage of their 3-2 series lead, losing 4-3 in overtime two days later in Detroit, and falling 3-2 on home ice in Game 7.

4-27-14: Anaheim 5, Dallas 4, OT

This Bonino scoring in overtime thing generated an encore in Game 6 of last year's Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Stars. But it meant a lot more than in 2013, and helped cap an improbable victory that sent the Ducks on to the semifinals against the Kings.

How improbable? Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller, who took over mid-game, after Frederik Andersen had given up the four Dallas goals, was on the bench as the Ducks scored twice with an extra man in the last 2:10 of regulation.

Bonino scored his first goal of the game, with Corey Perry and Matt Belesky getting the assists, to make it 4-3 with 2:10 left. Anaheim was able to draw even on a goal by Devante Smith-Pelly, with assists from Perry and Francois Beauchemin, with 24 seconds to play.

That set up Bonino's game-winner 2:47 into OT, with assists from Andrew Cogliano and Patrick Maroon, propelling the Ducks into the next round.

In that next round, the Ducks would once again not be able to capitalize on a 3-2 series lead, falling to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Kings in seven games.