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The Anaheim Ducks opened their five-game road trip with a loss last night, falling 8-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Ducks started poorly right away, as Patrick Kane got a pass to the front of the net for Dylan Strome, who beat John Gibson under two minutes into the game. Then after the Blackhawks continued to press later in the period, Alex DeBrincat beat Gibson with a nice shot, extending the lead. Chicago only continued to add to the lead after that, as Patrick Kane put a shot through Gibson with about six minutes to go in the frame, then Kane picked up his fourth point already, as another one of his shots was tipped in by Ryan Carpenter a few minutes later. Jonathan Toews then buried a shorthanded goal before the end of the frame, giving the Blackhawks a 5-0 lead after the first period.
Chicago picked up right where they left off in the second period, with Brandon Hagel getting to the net and beating Anthony Stolarz (who was replacing John Gibson), just 19 seconds into the frame. The Ducks actually came close to making it into a game after that, with three goals in a little over three minutes – from Jakob Silfverberg, Trevor Zegras and Adam Henrique – quickly making it a 6-3 game. However, Dylan Strome would cut off any chance of a comeback, burying a pass from Kane (in what was Kane’s fifth point of the night) to make it 7-3 after 40 minutes.
Chicago took control back in the third period, with Strome scoring his hat-trick goal (Kane’s sixth point of the night), as Chicago cruised to an 8-3 win.
The Ducks actually showed a lot of life through the second period but not so much through the rest of the night. The number of odd-man rushes they were giving up was brutal and even though the shots were even, the number of quality chances given up were drastically different.
John Gibson continues to look bad in net as well. It's not like Anaheim got off to a great start but Gibson allowed five goals on 13 shots and allowed a few that were questionable. That makes seven of the last eight games in which he’s allowed at least four goals, having been pulled in three of those eight games, and posting a .829 save percentage over that stretch.
Anaheim’s next game comes tomorrow against the Nashville Predators, as they continue their five-game road trip.
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