Well, that couldn't have gone any better for the Anaheim Ducks- Am I right? The Ducks had the home town fans on their feet right from the drop of the puck and Hollywood probably couldn't have scripted the game any better. The New York Rangers never had a chance.
Still oozing blood from a 9-2 Shark attack, the Rangers limped into Anaheim a wounded bunch. Ducks are vegetarians by nature, but last night these Ducks fed on the left over carcasses of their opponent.
Here are some of the highlights of a night full of them.
- Anaheim scored early and often with three goals in the first period and three more in the second. They took the foot off the pedal in the third. No worries though, the game was already over by that time.
- Ryan Getzlaf finally buried one. He took a nice pass from Corey Perry and fired a one time shot home from the slot. It was the captain's only shot on goal in the entire game and he made it count.
- Jakob Silfverberg has another nice night. The 22-year-old scored two goals and had six shots on net. I love how this kid just goes to the net. His first goal was from in the slot. He took a Teemu Selanne pass and put a shoot through Henrik Lundqvist. His second goal of the game was the product of a horrible New York clearing attempt, but again he went to the net and the puck found him for his fourth goal in as many games this season.
- Daniel Winnik was superb. He scored a goal and set up Saku Koivu with a sweet pass for his second goal of the year. Winnik is one of those guys that cannot be moved off the puck. He's big, strong and surprising quick. Fellow HB blogger Todd Cordell commented on how good the Ducks possession play has been this season. Winnik's strong puck play has a lot to do with that.
- Corey Perry was great. He set up both Getzlaf and Dustin Penner for goals with great individual efforts. I said last night that I thought Perry was boring to watch. After the game I went back to watch some Perry highlights from previous seasons and I can admit when I'm wrong. Although he does tend to disappear at times in a game he does have the ability to turn 'it' on when he needs to and when he is on, he is on.
- Still love what I see from Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen. There was one point in the game where both of them were just firing shots at the net. They are young, but you cannot teach that shot. That is all natural. The defensive end play can be taught and can be improved- the shot not so much. Vatanen played just over 19 minutes and Lindlholm just over 21 minutes. In fact, only Cam Fowler played more minutes than Hampus. Not bad.
- Jonas Hiller slept through most of the first period as his team blitzed NY with 17 shots to just three for the Rangers. Thankfully he stayed sharp enough to survive much busier second and third periods. Hiller made 34 saves in earning his 17th career shutout and was good when he needed to be. Jonas is having a very good start to the 2013-14 season. He has already equaled his entire shutout total from last season in just his second start. Let's hope he keeps this up.
- The game took an apparent turn for the worse for Anaheim when Nick Bonino, Mathieu Perreault and Dustin Penner all left the game and could not return because of various various injuries. The good news is Bonino, Perreault and Kyle Palmieri (injured the other night) all participated in the Ducks optional practice this morning. Penner is still 'day to day' as head coach Bruce Boudreau put it. His injury may be something that has been lingering and not something that happened during the game. We should know more in a day or two.
- All in all not a bad way to start the home portion of the schedule. This is a big year for the Ducks as they celebrate 20 years of existence. The opening night festivities included a very good video montage. I am trying to find a video of it to post. It's definitely a must see for both new and old Ducks fans alike.
Here are the video highlights of the game in case you missed them...
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