Ducks Down Canucks 4-2 In Home Opener
By: Matthew Garcia
After a five-game 11-day road trip to open up the season the Anaheim Ducks finally returned back home to host the visiting Vancouver Canucks for their home opener. In their past 16 games vs Vancouver, Anaheim has gone 11-2-3.
Anaheim would strike very early in the match as Andrew Cogliano would find the net just 33 seconds into the match burying a rebound off a shot by defenseman Josh Manson. Anaheim would be very dominant through the first period out-shooting Vancouver 12-4 but a mishap on the power play would give Vancouver the equalizer as Bo Horvat scored on a short-handed breakaway to tie the game at one with less than a minute left in the first.
The second period would start the same way that the first period did as Anaheim would once again take the lead, this time on a power-play goal as Cam Fowler would ring one off the post and in just 18 seconds into the period. Ducks would continue their dominance as they once again out-shot Vancouver this time 18-7. Anaheim would take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
The third period didn’t see any scoring until after the four-minute mark as Vancouver would draw even once again as Henrik Sedin found the back of the net just seconds after the Ducks killed off a Vancouver PowerPlay. That would be Henrik Sedin‘s first goal against Anaheim in the past 20 games. Anaheim would break the tie seven minutes later as Nick Ritchie would channel his inner baseball player and bat a puck out of midair past Ryan Miller for the go-ahead tally. Anaheim was not done yet as Corey Perry would pot his 3rd of the year beating Ryan Miller five-hole to give the Ducks a 4-2 lead with only 1:17 left in the game.
Anaheim would go on to win the contest by a final of 4-2 giving Vancouver their first regulation loss of the year. The Ducks will be in action again Tuesday night in San Jose at 7PM PT/10PM ET. Anaheim will be looking to extend their win streak to three as the Sharks will look to end their two-game losing streak.
3 Stars of the Game
1st Star (ANA) Ryan Getzlaf: 0G, 3A
2nd Star (ANA) Nick Ritchie: 1G, 0A
3rd Star (ANA) Cam Fowler: 1G, 0A
Game Notes
Cogliano, Fowler, and Perry all scored and lead the team in goals scored with three.
This victory was Anaheim’s 900th franchise win(821 regular season wins and 79 playoff wins).
Joseph Cramarossa made his NHL debut. He had two shots on goal and made four hits.
Click the photo below for video highlights.
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Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, vancouver canucks