Game 2: Minnesota At Anaheim

Minnesota(0-0-0) at Anaheim(1-0-0)

Pregame Show: DucksNPucks Podcast

TV: 7:00 PM PT/10:00 PM ET, ESPN

Radio & Post Game Show: KLAA AM 830

Anaheim Outlook

The Ducks jumped out to a two goal lead in their season opener at home this past Wednesday. The Winnipeg Jets were able to cut the lead into half, but the Ducks responded with two more goals.

Mason McTavish made his NHL debut and scored in his first NHL game. He is the youngest player in team history to score a goal. Adam Henrique, Rickard Rakell, and Kevin Shattenkirk also scored in the Ducks season opener.

A sore spot for Anaheim in recent seasons has been the power play, which went 2-for-5 on Wednesday. Anaheim will look to continue the momentum in the first game against the Minnesota Wild tonight.

Injury News per Coach Dallas Eakins:

Max Jones(illness non-COVID) did not play in the season opener, but will play tonight.

Troy Terry(illness non-COVID) will not play tonight.

John Gibson(lower body injury) will not play tonight and is day-to-day. Anthony Stolarz will get the start in net and Lukas Dostal will be the backup.

Projected Lineup 

Offense:
Adam Henrique – Trevor Zegras – Rickard Rakell
Max Comtois – Ryan Getzlaf – Max Jones
Mason McTavish – Isac Lundestrom – Jakob Silfverberg
Nicolas Deslauriers – Benoit-Olivier Groulx – Derek Grant

Defense:
Hampus Lindholm – Jamie Drysdale
Cam Fowler – Josh Manson
Greg Pateryn – Kevin Shattenkirk

In Net:
Anthony Stolarz 0-0-0 GAA 0.00 SV% .000 (Confirmed)

Minnesota Outlook

The Minnesota Wild had a solid season last year going 35-16-5. They ended up finishing in 3rd place in the West Division last year. The Wild squared off with the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the playoffs. They went the distance, but lost in seven games against Vegas.

The Wild will look to build off last season’s success. They averaged 3.21 goals per game last season, which was tied for 8th best in the league. They relied on their penalty kill last season, which was 80.8% efficient good for 11th in the league overall. Minnesota also focused on getting shots on net and averaged just under 30 shots per game(29.7) last season.

The player to watch this season is Kirill Kaprizov, who lead the team with 27 goals and 51 total points.

Projected Lineup 

Offense
Kirill Kaprizov – Joel Eriksson Ek – Mats Zuccarello
Jordan Greenway – Ryan Hartman – Marcus Foligno
Brandon Duhaime – Frederick Gaudreau – Kevin Fiala
Victor Rask – Nico Sturm – Nick Bjugstad

Defense

Alex Goligoski – Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin – Mathew Dumba
Dmitry Kulikov – Jonathon Merrill

Goalie
Cam Talbot 0-0-0, GAA 0.00, SV% .000 (Confirmed)

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October 15th, 2021