Game 21: Ducks Look To Beat Vegas Odds

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks(10-7-3) return home to face the Vegas Golden Knights(12-6-1) for the first time ever in the regular season. The game starts at 7:30 PM PT and will be on Prime Ticket locally and AM 830.

Anaheim Outlook:

The Anaheim Ducks are on a three-game winning streak(And that’s not a typo!). Anaheim beat Boston 4-2, Florida 3-2, and San Jose 3-2 in a shootout. Despite the injuries, the Ducks continue to earn points. John Gibson will be back in net tonight against Vegas. Reto Berra played against San Jose after Gibson stopped 50 shots the night before against Florida. Cam Fowler returned to the lineup after being out exactly one month with a knee injury. Ryan Miller was placed on the injured reserve and could be back at the end of the week.

Keys To The Game

The goal for Anaheim is to get a lead and maintain it after two periods. The Ducks are 8-0-2 when leading after two periods of play this season. The Ducks also need to start blocking more shots and disrupting more of their opponents passes. Anaheim gives up a whopping 36.1 shots against per game, which is the worst in the league.

Anaheim’s Projected Lineup:

Offense
Rickard Rakell – Derek Grant – Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano – Chris Wagner – Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie – Antoine Vermette – Kevin Roy
Michael Liambas – Dennis Rasmussen – Logan Shaw

Defense
Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson
Cam Fowler – Brandon Montour
Sami Vatanen – Kevin Bieksa

In Net
John Gibson 7-6-1, GAA 2.78, SV% .924 (Confirmed)

Vegas Outlook:

The Vegas Golden Knights have played well to the surprise of some this season. They had been in first place in the Pacific Division until recently. James Neal leads the way with 10 goals and former Duck William Karlsson has nine goals. Vegas has had injury problems in net and will go with Maxime Lagace tonight.

Keys To The Game

Vegas has the fourth best offense in the league, averaging 3.58 goals per game. They do give up 3.00 goals against so this could be a high scoring game. The Golden Knights do need to avoid the penalty box as they are ranked 23rd in penalty kill at 78.3%. If they can limit taking penalties and score at least three goals tonight, then they have a good chance to win.

Vegas’s  Projected Lineup:

Offense
David Perron – Erik Haula – James Neal
Reilly Smith – William Karlsson – Jon Marchessault
Brendan Leipsic – Cody Eakin – Alex Tuch
William Carrier – Oscar Lindberg – Tomas Nosek

Defense
Brayden McNabb – Nate Schmidt
Shea Theodore – Deryk Engelland
Colin Miller – Brad Hunt

In Net
Maxime Lagace 4-5-1, GAA 3.67, SV% .872 (Confirmed)

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November 22nd, 2017

 

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, ducksnpucks, vegas golden knights