VIDEO: Ducks Blank Stars; Acquire Enroth From Maple Leafs

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks hosted the Dallas Stars last night. John Gibson started in goal for Anaheim and Antti Niemi went for Dallas.

First Period

Unlike the Stars game against the Kings the night before, this game had more of a defensive tone to it. Neither team scored in the opening period. The Ducks did get a power play chance late in the period when Devin Shore was called for tripping. Anaheim was unable to convert and the teams headed to the locker room with no score.

Second Period

The second period saw plenty of penalties for both teams. There were five power plays total, three for the Ducks and two for the Stars. On Anaheim’s second power play of the period, Corey Perry skated to the side of the net and fired a shot that hit Niemi, who left a rebound in front of him. Jakob Silfverberg was in the right spot as he picked up the puck and fired it just past Niemi inside the far post. Dallas couldn’t convert on any of their power play chances. Anaheim led 1-0 after two periods.

Third Period

In the final frame, the Ducks played solid defense preventing the Stars from getting quality chances. With just over five minutes to go, the Ducks added to their lead to make it 2-0 in their favor. Silfverberg made a cross-ice pass to Andrew Cogliano, who fired the puck over Niemi’s stick side and just under the crossbar for a goal. Towards the end of the period, Dallas pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Kevin Bieksa was also called for high-sticking with 1:27 left, so Dallas had a 6-on-4 power play to finish the game, but still couldn’t score. Anaheim won 2-0.

Analysis

Anaheim had played solid defense against their previous three opponents at home and continued to do so against Dallas. The Stars had scored six goals the net before against the Los Angeles Kings. Dallas had also scored 10 times combined in the two previous meetings against Anaheim. The previous two games against the Stars were in Dallas, so tonight Randy Carlyle was able to get the matchups he wanted on the ice. The Ducks blocked 13 shots and didn’t Dallas to score on their power play attempts. Overall, Anaheim was effective in not letting Dallas establish a consistent forecheck for most of the game. The Ducks also finally scored on the power play. They had been 0-for-10 in the last three games without Ryan Getzlaf.

Anaheim Acquires Jhonas Enroth From Toronto

Shortly after the game was over, the Ducks announced they traded a seventh-round pick in the 2018 NHL draft to Toronto for goalie Jhonas Enroth. Enroth has a 50-69-16 record with seven shutouts, a 2.84 goals-against average (GAA) and .909 save percentage (SV%) in 153 career NHL games with Buffalo, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Toronto. This season he started in four games for Toronto going 0-3-1 with a 3.94 GAA and .872 SV%.

Enroth will report to the San Diego Gulls. The Gulls have had issues at the goalie position due to injuries with Matt Hackett and Dustin Tokarski this season. The Ducks made this move to add more needed depth at the AHL level. Interestingly enough three of Anaheim’s last four trades have been with Toronto and all involved goalies(Frederik Andersen, Jonathan Bernier, and Jhonas Enroth).

What’s Next?

The Ducks hit the road and will face the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday at 6 PM PT.

Click below for highlights of the game. 

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January 11, 2016

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, dallas stars, ducksnpucks