Game 48

Date: Friday, January 17, 2020

Time: 4:30 PM

Location: PNC Arena

TV: Prime Ticket, FSCR

Radio: AM 830

Your Enemy: Canes Country

This afternoon, the Anaheim Ducks look to make a quick turnaround after last night’s SUPREME VICTORY against the Nashville Predators. Victory never tasted so sweet!

Their opponent tonight is the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena for the second game in the back-to-back set. Luckily for the Ducks, the Canes are also playing on a back-to-back after an away game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Sparked by the return of Jakob Silfverberg and #Elite1C Derek Grant, the Ducks beat the Nashville Predators 4-2 last night. You can be sure that while this win doesn’t mean much in terms of this season, it has to be a great feeling for a team that entered last night with a four game losing streak.

Since the beginning of December, the Ducks have three regulation wins and three shootout wins with the rest being losses of some sort. A record of 7-13-1 is the second worst record besides the Detroit Red Wings during that span. It has been frustrating, but as the season goes on, the Ducks will continue to hope for signs of improvement anywhere they can find them. Hopefully the tired legs at the end of a road-trip will not be an issue and the team will come out flying.

On the other end, the Carolina Hurricanes find themselves with a decent record of 27-18-2 and sitting in a three-way tie for fourth in the high-flying Metropolitan Division and a three-way tie for sixth in the East. Coming off a devastating loss against the Blue Jackets, the Hurricanes are looking to bounce back and continue their push into this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. The standings are tight with only a five point difference between fourth and 10th, so Carolina will want to pounce on all the bottom feeders when they can.

Led by the youth of Teuvo Teravainen and teenage phenom Andrei Svechnikov, the Hurricanes are a team that scores a decent amount, but is also in the top ten of the league in goals allowed. On top of that, they are in the top ten in special teams play. This team can be lethal and they will come out with guns blazing in hopes to redeem themselves from last night.

Keys to the Game

Discipline - Over the past three games, the Ducks have been penalized only four times. Considering they had five penalties against the Dallas Stars, this is a win. Not only do they want to limit a strong powerplay any extra opportunities, the long-term hope is for the younger players to learn how to position themselves well so they don’t have to take a penalty to begin with.

Clean Breakouts - One of the more frustrating parts of Anaheim’s game plan is the ways they try to break out of their zone. There are moments where there’s a need for quick passes and other times where you’d want to hold on to the puck a little longer to make sure the passing lanes open up. They’ll need to clean up this part of their game if they stand a chance.

Limit Turnovers in Front of Net - Just stop turning the puck over in front of your own goal. It’s really that simple.

No matter what the result, Anaheim hopes for a competitive game and no injuries. And no goals against in the first minute of any period. Please.