Sunday, October 13, 2013

Ottawa Senators at Anaheim

It was a tremendous win for the "Mighty" Ducks of Anaheim, as they honored their history with a win against Ottawa, with a score of 4-1 on Throwback Night in Anaheim.

Clad in classic eggplant and teal, the Ducks had a record breaking 56 shots on goal, sending Ottawa's starting goalie, Craig Anderson to the bench after just four minutes of play. Corey Perry scored his first of two goals just 27 seconds into the game, with line mates Getzy and Patrick Maroon providing the assists. Getzlaf notched his own tally at 4:06, sending Anderson to the bench.

Senator's backup goalie Robin Lehner went on to face 47 shots, allowing a second Perry goal at 3:18 and an unassisted wrist shot from Nick Bonino at 15:28 in the second stanza.

The lone Senator goal was scored by an ex-Duck, 2005 draft pick and fan favorite, Bobby Ryan.

Paramount to the Duck's success tonight was a relentless offense, taking an unprecedented 56 shots to set a franchise record. The ducks were also strong in the faceoff circle, taking 38 of the 62 dropped pucks.

On defense, the disciplined Ducks stayed out of the penalty box, only allowing one power play advantage to the Senators on an interference call on Jakob Silfverberg. The Penalty Kill Krew managed to keep the Senators scoreless on their two minute man advantage, partially thanks to the 18 blocked shots from the field.

The Ducks, on the other hand, were also shut down on each of the six power plays they were afforded. The special teams weren't looking so special tonight, which is something they'll need against more physical teams when it'll be necessary to capitalize on the man advantage if they want to keep up the wins.

The Ducks hope to increase their win streak to 5 straight games against Calgary at home on Wednesday. The tally tonight parallels their best season starts for 8 points in the first five games, matched by their starts in 2011-2012 (4-1-0) and their championship season in 2006-2007 (3-0-2).

Elsewhere in the NHL, the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-3, with two goals by quiet journeyman Rob Klinkhammer, who is working to solidify his spot on the roster.

The Kings untested new goalie, Ben Scrivens had a shutout night in Florida, stumping the Panthers with a 3-0 win. Scrivens, in his second game with the black and silver, stopped 20 shots, helped greatly by his defense that was quick to clear any rebounds.

The New Jersey Devils are left winless after being shut out by Winnipeg tonight, with a final score of 0-3. The Jets, who had been struggling to win at home, took 35 shots and had 19 blocked shots to muscle their way to their third win of the season.

Until next time, Stay Mighty!