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The Anaheim Ducks snuck away with an overtime win to open the 2022-23 season, defeating the Seattle Kraken 5-4 at home tonight.
The Ducks struck right away, with Ryan Strome going in hard on the forecheck and getting the puck to Mason McTavish, who fed Troy Terry in front for the first goal of the season under a minute into the game. The Kraken did take over after that though and after a lot of pressure on a power play, Jared McCann beat John Gibson with a great short-side wrist shot to tie the game. The Ducks really didn’t look good after that, giving up tons of chances from breakaways to clear opportunities in-close, but Gibson was excellent and held Anaheim in the game. The Ducks gave up three power plays and a ridiculous 20 shots in the frame, but managed to escape the period with the game tied.
Just 39 seconds into the second period, however, Andre Burakovsky gave the Kraken a 2-1 lead, with a great shot over John Gibson on a power play. Then under six minutes later, on yet another Kraken power play, Oliver Bjorkstrand just walked right into the slot and beat a screened Gibson, to extend the Kraken’s lead. The Ducks struggled to get much going at even strength but late in the frame on a power play, Seattle couldn’t convert on a shorthanded rush and Mason McTavish and Ryan Strome went in on a 2-on-1 the other way, with McTavish putting a saucer pass right to Strome, who cut the Kraken's lead to 3-2 after 40 minutes.
We saw a fight between Max Comtois and Will Borgen to open the third period but it didn’t seem to shift momentum as just a couple minutes later, Matty Beniers buried a rebound to make it a 4-2 game. Despite being outplayed though, the Ducks managed to pull the game back to within a single goal once again, as Frank Vatrano ripped a great shot past Philipp Grubauer from a good spot. Then a few minutes later, Anaheim ended up with a power play and Trevor Zegras one-timed a shot past Grubauer to tie the game at 4-4. The Ducks then managed to kill off a late Kraken power play, which produced several excellent chances for Seattle to go back ahead, sending the game to overtime.
In the extra frame – completely on brand with the rest of the game – John Gibson was a star, stopping a partial breakaway, then sending a pass up to Terry, who won a race and put a perfect backhand shot over Grubauer to give the Ducks an unlikely 5-4 overtime win.
So for this one, I’ll start with the negatives first to get them out of the way:
Defensively, the Ducks were pretty brutal for a lot of the game with tons of turnovers (especially deep in their own end) and players getting caught up ice, leading to odd-man rushes the other way. Anaheim’s defenders had a tough time trying to handle the puck behind their own net or win battles against opposing forecheckers. John Klingberg specifically struggled defensively and the team’s forwards also often looked lost in their own end at times.
The Ducks’ penalty trouble was a huge problem as well. The first issue was taking too many penalties to begin with, but perhaps the larger one was the penalty kill being a liability. The Kraken went 3-for-5 on the power play, which just can’t happen.
Anaheim also really struggled to get much going offensively through a lot of the game – but now for the positives:
I thought Mason McTavish was a standout. He was dangerous every time he entered the offensive zone and looked great overall.
Looking at another key forward, a big question coming into the year was whether Troy Terry would be able to replicate his excellent 2021-22 season. If I’m betting just off the first regular season game, my guess would be absolutely. He was shooting just about anytime he had the chance and was all over the ice.
All this said, the story of this one was undoubtedly John Gibson, who stopped 44 shots in the win. He was outstanding throughout the entire game despite consistently facing high-end opportunities.
Gibson is another player with a question mark heading into the year, following a few down seasons. I’ve talked before about how trading Gibson could be the right move for the Ducks but games like this make you question how many other goalies could possibly replicate that same performance.
The Ducks battled back to erase a two-goal deficit and even if they got a better fate than they probably deserved, it was a wildly entertaining game to open the season. The power play played a key role as well, with the Ducks going 2-for-3 on the man advantage.
If this is any indication, Anaheim should be a really fun team to watch this year.
The Ducks’ next game comes on Saturday against the New York Islanders, as the Ducks kick off a five-game Eastern Conference road trip.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
Trevor Zegras listed as day-to-day, Ducks sign Nathan Beaulieu
Ducks announce opening night roster, Josh Mahura claimed by Panthers 
Anaheim Ducks Blogger • 
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