Video: Ducks Downed By Vegas In Season Opener

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks finally returned to the ice to play hockey. John Gibson started in net against Robin Lehner.

The Ducks placed Brendan Guhle and Ryan Kesler on the LTIR. Max Comtois and Kodie Curran were promoted to the roster from the taxi squad. Comtois drew in for Sonny Milano who was a healthy scratch with Curran.

First Period

The Vegas Golden Knights jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Jonathan Marchessault would score just over one minute into the game. Tomas Nosek would score about a minute later. The Ducks got down early, but then responded thanks to Max Comtois. Anaheim’s first goal would come when Sam Steel would get behind the Vegas net and find a streaking Comtois for their first goal. Then it would be Ryan Getzlaf that would bring the puck to the side of the net and then hit Comtois on the other side of the net for the easy score. After an extremely fast paced period, the teams would find themselves tied at two after the opening teeny minutes.

Second Period

The middle frame saw no scoring, but the Ducks played well in this period. Anaheim outshot Vegas 17-14 and held the edge in scoring chances 8-5 during even strength play. The Ducks also had a power play, but couldn’t convert. Anaheim could have taken the lead in the period as they hit the post 2-3 times.

Third Period

Less than a minute into the period, Mark Stone would score to give Vegas a one goal lead. Halfway through the period Max Pacioretty would score to reestablish the two goal lead for Vegas. With a few minutes to go, the Ducks would pull Gibson for the extra attacker, but the Golden Knights would score an empty net goal to seal the game with a 5-2 victory.

Analysis:

At the start of the game it felt like the Ducks were going to be blown out of the building as Vegas scored two quick goals in just over two minutes. Anaheim was able to respond back with two goals by Comtois to get back in the game immediately.

The Ducks out played the Golden Knights towards the end of the first period and second. They created several chances and could have been ahead if one of those post shots would have gone in. Any momentum they created was quickly taken back with Stone’s early goal in the third period. Anaheim tried to come back, but seemed a little sluggish at times in the final frame and couldn’t rally.

The Ducks were solid in the face-off circle winning 58% of the draws. They also only had one giveaway where the Golden Knights had nine.

Offensively the Max Comtois, Isac Lundestrom, and Sam Steel line was the best producing two goals. The Rickard Rakell, Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg line surprisingly did not perform well. On defense, Hampus Lindholm and Kevin Shattenkirk appeared solid most of the night. Cam Fowler and Josh Manson were average for the night. Lastly, Gibson probably will want one of those two early goals back.

Overall, it wasn’t a terrible performance for a team that hasn’t played together in 10 months. Let’s see how they do against Vegas again this Saturday.

Next Game:

Saturday January 16th at Vegas, 7 PM

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January 14th, 2021