Red Wings @ Ducks PREVIEW: The New Guys In Town

Game 3

Date: Monday, October 8th, 2018

Time: 7:00 PT / 10:00 ET

Location: Honda Center

TV: Fox Sports Prime

Radio: AM830

Oh dear. The Ducks are up to 2-0 after being outshot 74-35 after the first two road games of the 2018-19 season. It’s deja vu as we are seeing the same headlines as we saw at the end of last season when Anaheim’s shots for versus shots against were vastly lopsided.

“You’ve been around enough, you know that’s the way we like to do it,” said John Gibson after his 41-save performance Friday night at Gila Arena.

Excuse me? Absolutely not. I dearly hope the Ducks aren’t okay with this way of thinking. Because at the rate things are going with the Ducks roster, that is exactly how you see your saving hope starting goaltender get overplayed and go down with an injury. *KNOCK ON WOOD*

I mean two games in, we shouldn’t be surprised that the hockey gods chose to challenge the Ducks again with another injury. Of all players, of course they chose Ryan Getzlaf, because what kind of challenge would it be if it were not him? I mean Anaheim has already ruled out the following for an indefinite period: Ondrej Kase, Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry, Kevin Roy, Kalle Kossila, Patrick Eaves, and Korbinian Holzer. What’s another Ryan Getzlaf to add to that mix? Pretty soon the injury list will be more recognizable than the entire active roster.

So what I’m basically saying is that the Anaheim Ducks best not tempt the hockey gods by saying things like “you know that’s the way we like to do it.” No—that is NOT the way the Ducks like to do it, but rather they are forced to do it while they juggle and figure out the best way to counteract the imbalance at the top as well as the back. The fact of the matter is while the Anaheim Ducks are once again clearly put into an unfavorable position in terms of their active roster, the season is long, and it really will be on not only the remaining healthy veterans but the new guys to prove that they can hang with the rest of the NHL. Although his play can still be improved, Maxime Comtois has made himself known among Anaheim fans by striking twice in two games. But that clearly will not be enough. We will need to see these forwards generate more sustained pressure in the offensive zone. We need to see more from Troy Terry, Sam Steel and Kiefer Sherwood.

And what better chance to do this against than the Detroit Red Wings? The Wings will be coming off a back-to-back against the Quick-less Los Angeles Kings. As we all know, Detroit has basically accepted the fact that have entered rebuild mode, as they usher in a new era of The Joe-Less (and Zetterberg-less) Red Wings. Their roster will also consist of kids well under 25, all hoping to make the cut. They are quick, but not as crisp and refined. This will be a good chance for Anaheim to regroup and slow down the game in order to clean the play up. They need to take advantage of these types of games as much as possible—dictate the pace and think through their response.

And if all fails, there’s always Gibby right? Because that’s the way we like to do things around here.