Flyers vs Ducks: Morning Thoughts

Game 2 came to an end after the overtime loss to the Flyers. Let’s breakdown what went well and what didn’t.

Best - The Ducks managed to get a point as their team continues to be riddled with injuries. Nick Ritchie was a last minute scratch, which forced Carlyle to switch up the lines. It forced the Ducks to dig even deeper to generate opportunities.

Worst - The Ducks had a solid 1st period, generating 13 shots on net. The rest of the game consisted of the Ducks relying on sporadic chances, one of which was the short-handed goal by Fowler. Can’t win that way.

Best - Gibson was a monster in net. He robbed No. 2 overall pick Nolan Patrick 1 minute into the game. Stacking the pads on a series of saves. Some great side-to-side saves. He kept the Ducks alive all the way to overtime.

Worst - 3v3 overtime and Ducks hockey do not go well together. The Ducks finished 3-11 in overtime games last year. They start this season 0-1, and it took less than 1 minute. Thank goodness playoff overtime is 5v5.

Randy Carlyle sums it quite well - “We’ll take the point and move on. It wasn’t one we could say we played very well as a whole. We had some spurts but we didn’t really have consistency going.”

While a win would be nice, 1 point is something the Ducks can be content with early on while they recover from injuries. In a sense it is survival mode right now.

Here are my 3 stars of the game:

3. Dennis Rasmussen - seriously look at this effort.

@sonsofpenn - Twitter

2. Ondrej Kase - He continues to develop and show flashes of brilliance. I’ll be pissed if the Ducks let Cogliano walk next year, but it’s nice to know we have another guy that gives 100% and skates 100mph every shift.

1. John Gibson - He was a stud in net all night. He single handedly earned the Ducks their 1 point.

The Ducks need to generate more consistency as they play host to the Calgary Flames Monday. There is no better motivation than keeping the longest home win streak against one team in NHL history alive.

Final random note - Is there an over/under on Ovechkin getting 100 goals I can bet on? 7 goals in 2 games. Unreal.