PREVIEW: DUCKS VS. CANUCKS (10/22/16) Home Opener Against Undefeated Canucks?

Game #6:

The Ducks earned their first win of the season Thursday night in a tough game against the Philadelphia Flyers. It was a close game that saw the Ducks lead, then trail, then come back and win it. Wagner started things off with his first goal of the season – firing a quick shot after Boll left him drop pass near the top of the circle. Also, Corey Perry had a beautiful slap shot goal where he wound up and waited for a good (Mississippi) second or two before crushing the puck towards the top left corner, just over Mason’s glove and in. However, it wasn’t until the middle of a tied third period when the Ducks scored what was arguably their nicest looking goal of the season! Holzer was skating the puck behind the Flyers net with speed then quickly threw a pass back the way he came from (at a tough angle due to the net) which landed perfectly on Ryan Garbutt’s stick…and he did not miss.

With this latest win and a few forgettable games behind them, the stage is now set for a much anticipated home opener against the (currently) undefeated Vancouver Canucks. DISCLAIMER: the Canucks will play against the Los Angeles Kings tonight as I am writing this, so it remains to be seen if they will still be undefeated when they matchup against the Ducks on Sunday (they lost in a shootout to LA -JC). However, Vancouver’s last game was also on Thursday where they downed the Buffalo Sabres 2-1. It was Daniel Sedin’s mid-third period goal that became the game winning goal and a 27 save performance from goaltender Jacob Markstrom who now has a 3-0-0 record to start this season and has looked gooooooooood so far in my opinion.

I am also excited to see how the Ducks match up against the newly acquired third Sedin Brother: Loui Eriksson. Eriksson has had a slow start to the 2016-2017 season with 0G, 2A and only 4 shots on goal total. However, Vancouver paid good money for him for a reason, and he has the potential to be a real thorn in the Ducks side on Sunday. I believe some of the important keys for the Ducks to secure a victory against the Canucks are to get a lot of traffic in front of Markstrom, peppering him with shots, tightening up defensively (not seeing Hampus out there is killing me…), and maybe most importantly…STAYING OUT OF THE PENALTY BOX!!!! (This was a problem they faced against the Flyers). Hopefully they can get on the board quick and walk away with win #2 on Sunday night.