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The Anaheim Ducks opened their season with a weekend back-to-back, falling 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, before defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 6-3 in their home opener last night.
4-1 LOSS TO GOLDEN KNIGHTS
On Saturday, the Ducks had a decent start through the first half of the opening frame, but the play started to slowly skew in Vegas’ favour towards the end of the period. Then on a power play with just seconds to go in the opening frame, Jack Eichel was able to dangle through the neutral zone for an entry and past Radko Gudas, before heading to the net and tucking the puck past John Gibson to put Vegas ahead through 20 minutes.
The Golden Knights really continued to take control from there, dominating the first half of the second period, but John Gibson bailed out his team with a few great saves. While the Ducks did start to generate some chances, Paul Cotter managed to find Chandler Stephenson with a good pass on a rush a little later, and Stephenson tucked the put into the open net to extend Vegas’ lead. In the third period, Shea Theodore then ended up making it a 3-0 game with a great one-timer on a power play, and while Mason McTavish did respond for the Ducks only 30 seconds later, an empty netter for Vegas later in the frame sealed a 4-1 loss for Anaheim in their season opener.
6-3 WIN OVER HURRICANES
Last night, the Ducks came out flying. Anaheim managed to open the scoring about seven minutes into the game following a few good chances, as Brett Leason got the puck over to Sam Carrick, who roofed a shot past Antti Raanta. Then under two minutes later, Frank Vatrano just threw the puck on net and managed to beat Raanta five-hole on a bit of a weak goal, putting the Ducks up 2-0 early. The Ducks weren't done there, and only about four four minutes after that, with the teams at 4-on-4, Jackson LaCombe found Pavel Mintyukov all alone for his first NHL goal, and he was able to score on the open net, giving Anaheim a 3-0 lead through 20 minutes.
The Ducks did have to kill off a four-minute penalty through much of the first bit of the second frame, but some big saves from Lukas Dostal made the difference. The Hurricanes then had a great chance on a 2-on-1 later, but Dostal made a huge save, then Jordan Martinook hit a post on an open net just afterwards. The Hurricanes continued to press though, and Teuvo Teravainen managed to get Carolina on the board with roughly six minutes to go in the frame, to make it a 3-1 game. However, just three minutes later, Frank Vatrano sniped his second goal of the game, reinstating the Ducks’ three-goal lead. The second period ended with a bit of a brawl after that, with the Ducks carrying a lot of momentum into the second intermission.
Carolina struck again early in the third period though, as Teravainen scored his second goal of the game, beating Lukas Dostal through a screen. Then shortly after, the Hurricanes nearly cut the lead to one, but Dostal was able to get over to make an excellent save.
But Carolina kept pressing and with a little under five minutes to go, Michael Bunting got a great cross-crease pass over to Martin Necas, who beat Dostal to cut the lead to make it a 4-3 game. However, Cam Fowler managed to bury an empty netter from the Ducks end with two minutes remaining, before Frank Vatrano scored an empty netter of his own for a hat trick, and the Ducks held on for the 6-3 win.
Starting the season 1-1-0 with the games coming against two of the NHL’s very best teams is a pretty good result for the Ducks to start the year. The victory over Carolina also marked Greg Cronin's first win.
I think it’s huge that both Jackson LaCombe and Pavel Mintyukov are already looking very comfortable, after making the jump right to the NHL. Both have been willing to carry the puck and look for plays, and they’re adding an element to the team’s offense that wasn’t really there from the blue line last season.
Obviously, a hat trick for Frank Vatrano is great as well. With Alex Killorn out, the Ducks need their current top-six to step up, and with the shot he has, the best thing Vatrano can do is get pucks on net.
While the second line has been clicking though, the team’s top line of Adam Henrique, Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry has been a little quiet. The trio has combined for a total of seven shots across the two games, and Anaheim will desperately need those forwards to get going if they hope to get on a bit of a roll to start the season.
Overall, the Ducks have still been outplayed across parts of the two games. Even in the win over Carolina yesterday, Anaheim was outshot 35-25 (mainly in the back two periods), and the team has been outshot by a combined margin of 73-48 over the two games.
One thing the Ducks haven’t had an issue with though is goaltending. Both John Gibson and Lukas Dostal played really well in their first starts of the season respectively. I think it’s going to be really interesting to see how many games Dostal is able to get into this season, already very ready for NHL action at just 23 years old.
Regardless, while the Ducks haven't necessarily been perfect, they were able to capitalize on their chances last night and hold the lead from there to pick up a win against a very good team, and are showing signs of improvement.
They’ll be back in action on Thursday, when they host the Dallas Stars.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- Ducks sign Trevor Zegras to three-year contract extension
- Ducks sign Jamie Drysdale to three-year contract
- Ducks finalize season-opening roster, claim Ross Johnston from Islanders 
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