Down the Frozen River

Tag: Ducks

  • February 15 – Day 123 – Happy Grammy Day!

    Once again, the Bruins proved me wrong in my prediction, as they fell 6-5 in Detroit in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    Although they took the loss, Boston did set a positive franchise record, as Brad Marchand’s goal only eight seconds into the game, his 28th of the season, is the fastest-ever Bruins goal.  He was assisted by Brett Connolly.  Detroit leveled the game only 2:36 later with a Henrik Zetterberg backhander, his 11th tally of the season, assisted by Justin Abdelkader and Danny DeKeyser.  Again, Boston quickly broke the tie, when Zach Trotman scored his second of the season at the 2:58 mark with a slap shot.  Goal scoring subsided for a little while before the Bruins set the score at 3-1 with a Loui Eriksson tip-in, his 19th tally of the season, assisted by David Krejci and Jimmy Hayes.  The Wings got a goal back 1:47 later on the power play, scored by Pavel Datsyuk, assisted by Abdelkader (his 17th helper of the season) and Brad Richards.  The 3-2 Boston lead held into the intermission.

    The Wings leveled the score only 3:13 into the second period with a goal from Darren Helm, assisted by Xavier Ouellet and Alexey Marchenko.  They followed that up with another goal only 3:25 later, courtesy of Datsyuk, who was assisted by Richards and Zetterberg (his 29th helper of the season).  The Wings‘ lead expanded to two with another goal from Helm, assisted by Marchenko and Kyle Quincey.  The Bruins got one back with Dennis Seidenberg’s first goal of the season at the 11:23 mark, assisted by Ryan Spooner (his 29th helper of the season).  The 5-4 Red Wings lead held into the second intermission.

    Boston leveled the game only 38 seconds into the final period with a score from Joonas Kemppainen, assisted by Marchand and Krejci (his 31st helper of the season), but Detroit earned the last laugh with a deflection goal from Zetterberg, assisted by DeKeyser and Datsyuk (his 22nd helper of the season).

    Petr Mrazek earns the win by saving 17 of 22 (77.3%), while Jonas Gustavsson, who replaced Tuukka Rask after he gave up the fifth goal (19 for 24, 79.2%), takes the loss after saving 10 of 11 (90.9%).

    The Game of the Day series now stands at 55-27-11, favoring the home squad by 36 points over the roadies.

    Happy Presidents’ and Grammys Day!  In honor of both of these “holidays,” we’ll try to keep the theme going in the schedule run-down.  The first game of the day is between the Motown Red Wings and the “New York State of Mind” Islanders at 1 p.m. eastern (NHLN), followed by Marcus Mumford’s Anaheim Ducks at “(Marie’s the Name) His Latest” Calgary Flames three hours later.  7:30 p.m. eastern brings with it the beginning of the “Black and Yellow” Pittsburgh Penguins and the “Pocketful of Sunrise“ Panthers (yeah, I know, just work with me), followed half an hour later by Switchfoot’s Dallas Stars at the “Crazy Town” Predators.  Drake’s Toronto Maple Leafs are “Goin’ to (the) Chicago” Blackhawks at 8:30 p.m. eastern (NHLN), and the Canadiens are almost “A Million Miles from Montréal,” visiting the Arizona Coyotes.  The “Born to be” Minnesota Wild getting ready for a “Vancouver Shakedown” against the Canucks represents tonight’s nightcap at 10 p.m. eastern.

    Only two of today’s seven games are between divisional rivals (Anaheim at Calgary and Dallas at Nashville), while another set of two are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Detroit at New York and Dallas at Nashville).

    While I’d usually go with the Dallas–Nashville game, especially since they’re slated to meet each other in the first round, but we’re already committed to the Grammys spiel.  Because of that, and since Kendrick Lamar, the most nominated artist, is from Compton, Calif., we’ll go with the team he was born closest to (that’s playing today, the Kings are technically closer…): the Anaheim Ducks.

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    Today’s game will be Anaheim‘s sixth in the Game of the Day series, where they currently own a 2-1-2 record.  Their most recent featured game was Saturday’s game in Chicago, a 3-2 overtime victory.  The only other time Calgary was featured was featured was their trip to Madison Square Garden on October 25, where they lost 4-1.

    The 27-19-8 Anaheim Ducks currently occupy third in the Pacific Division and sixth in the Western Conference.  They have gotten themselves into playoff position with the second-best defense in the league, which has been more than necessary to cover for the worst offense in the NHL.  A more in-depth analysis of Anaheim‘s game can be found within Saturday’s post.

    As the Ducks were off yesterday, their most recent game was Saturday’s 3-2 overtime victory in Chicago.  A win in today’s game pushes Anaheim past San Jose and back into second place in the division by a point.

    The 25-26-3 Calgary Flames currently sit in sixth in the Pacific Division and 12th, or third worst, in the Western Conference.  The main reason they are in that position is because of their fifth-worst defense, as the offense actually ranks 15th-best.

    The Flames, led by John Gaudreau’s 143 shots, have fired only 1555 shots, of which 9.3% have found the back of the net for 144 goals (led by Gaudreau’s 21 tallies), 15th best in the league.  That could actually be better if it wasn’t for the power play, which is second worst.  Calgary has only optimized on 14.86% of opportunities for only 26 extra-man goals (led by Mark Giordano’s five power play tallies), seven fewer than the league average.

    The problems for Calgary have been on the other end.  Thanks in part to Kris Russell’s team-leading 174 blocks, only 1572 shots have made their way to the injured 17-18-1 Karri Ramo and co., of which they’ve collectively saved only 90.3% for 160 goals against, fifth-most in the league.  While it is not completely the problem, part of the issue has been the Flames‘ penalty kill which, just like the power play, ranks second-worst in the league.  The Flames have neutralized only 75% of opposing power plays for 35 extra-man goals against.

    Calgary‘s most recent game was a 4-1 loss in Arizona on Friday.  Should Calgary win today, they will move only a point behind 11th place in the Western Conference, and six points behind the second wildcard position.

    Today’s game will be the third in the season series, which Anaheim currently leads 2-0-0.  Their most recent meeting was way back on December 29 in this building, where the Ducks won 1-0.

    This game is also special in the sense that it is a rematch of one of last season’s Western Conference Semifinals, which the Ducks ultimately won in five games before falling to the Blackhawks in the conference finals.

    Some players to keep an eye on include Anaheim‘s Ryan Getzlaf (36 assists [tied for seventh-most in the league]) and John Gibson (four shutouts [tied for fourth-best in the league] and 2.11 GAA [fifth-best in the league]) & Calgary‘s T.J. Brodie (+15 and two short-handed assists [both lead the team]) and Gaudreau (30 assists, nine of which were on a power play, and 21 goals, 18 of which were at even-strength and six were game-winners, for 51 points on 143 shots [all lead the team]).

    Anaheim has been in control of this series of late, and I don’t expect anything to change now.  As long as Anaheim‘s defense continues to play lights-out like they have been all season, they should be all set for two points.

  • February 13 – Day 121 – Duck… Duck… Hawk!

    It took overtime, but the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to hold home ice to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3.

    It was actually the Preds that scored first.  Mike Fisher’s snap shot connected at the 9:40 mark of the first, assisted by Viktor Arvidsson and Mattias Ekholm (his 19th helper of the season).  Nashville‘s 1-0 lead held to the intermission.

    Tampa leveled the score 8:22 after resuming play, courtesy of a J.T. Brown wrister, assisted by Valtteri Filppula (his 20th helper of the season) and Andrej Sustr.  The Bolts took the lead only 1:45 later when Nikita Kucherov fired a backhander for his 22nd tally of the season, assisted by Nikita Nesterov and Ben Bishop.  The Lightning took their 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

    Nashville leveled the score only 4:01 after resuming play from the break when James Neal found the back of the net with a wrister for his 20th goal of the season, assisted by Third Star of the Game Roman Josi and Barret Jackman.  They then took the lead at the 7:46 mark with a wrister from Filip Forsberg, assisted by Mike Ribeiro and Josi (his 29th helper of the season).  With only 27 seconds remaining in regulation, the Lightning leveled the game with a slap shot from Second Star Steven Stamkos, assisted by Victor Hedman and Kucherov (his 25th helper of the season).

    Overtime only lasted 1:04, as First Star Tyler Johnson’s wrister, assisted by Hedman (his 28th helper of the season) and Stamkos, was pure.

    Bishop earns the win after saving 27 of 30 (90%), while Pekka Rinne takes the loss after saving 24 of 28 (85.7%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 54-27-10, favoring the home squad by 35 points over the roadies.

    It’s another busy Saturday for the greatest hockey league in the world, with 10 games on the docket today.  New Jersey and Philadelphia drop the opening puck of the day at 1 p.m. eastern, followed an hour later by the only other afternoon matinee, Boston at Minnesota.  Four games get started at the usual starting time of 7 p.m. eastern (Toronto at Vancouver, Nashville at Florida, the New York Islanders at Carolina and Ottawa at Columbus), followed an hour later by Washington at Dallas.  Anaheim at Chicago starts at 8:30 p.m. eastern in NHL Network.  Edmonton hosts Winnipeg at 10 p.m. eastern, followed half an hour later by this evening’s nightcap, Arizona at San Jose.

    Three of tonight’s games are between divisional rivals (New Jersey at Philadelphia, New York at Carolina and Arizona at San Jose), and another set of three are games between current qualifiers (Nashville at Florida, Washington at Dallas and Anaheim at Chicago).  The Anaheim–Chicago game is also a rematch of the Western Conference Finals.

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    This will be Anaheim‘s fifth appearance in the Game of the Day series, where they currently own a 1-1-2 record.  Their most recent appearance in the series was a 4-1 victory over the Senators on January 13.  Chicago has played many more games (16 so far, in fact), and much more recently.  Their 4-2 loss on home ice to the Stars on Thursday set their Game of the Day record at 9-6-1.

    In addition to meeting in last season’s Western Conference Finals, the Blackhawks and Ducks are also connected by a mid-season trade that sent Ryan Garbutt to Anaheim in exchange for Jiri Sekac.

    Garbutt had two goals, four assists and 94 hits in his 43-game Blackhawks career before being sent to Orange County, where he’s already notched three goals and an assist in eight games played.

    The 26-19-8 Anaheim Ducks currently sit in third place in the Pacific Division and sixth in the Western Conference.  So far this season, they’ve played the fourth-best defense in the league, but it’s been paired with the fewest goals scored in the league.

    Sami Vatanen may lead the team with only 85 blocks, but the Ducks have allowed only 1462 shots to reach 12-8-2 John Gibson and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 91.7% for only 125 goals against, fourth-least in the league.  That defensive strength has directly stemmed from Anaheim‘s penalty kill, which is the best in the league, killing 88.71% of opposing power plays for 21 extra-man goals against.

    Although the offense has been improving of late, it still ranks worst in the league in goals scored.  Led by Corey Perry’s 145 shots, Anaheim has fired 1618 attempts for 122 goals (led by Perry’s 21 tallies).  The power play has also been fairly poor, as it ranks 11th-worst in the league.  The Ducks have only scored on 17.88% of their opportunities for 27 extra-man goals (led by Perry’s six).

    Anaheim lost their most recent game 4-3 in a shootout in Columbus on Thursday.  A win today provides the Ducks the opportunity to move into second place in the division should the Sharks lose, but if Anaheim loses and Vancouver wins, the Ducks‘ lead for third in the division is reduced to only two points.

    The 36-18-4 Chicago Blackhawks currently lead both the Central Division and the Western Conference by a lone point over the Stars, and trail only the Washington Capitals, by eight points, for the Presidents’ Trophy.  They play the fourth-best offense in the league, paired with the seventh-best defense.  A more in-depth analysis of their game can be found in Thursday’s post.

    With their 4-2 loss to the Stars, the Blackhawks are currently riding a two-game losing skid.  A Blackhawks win paired with a Stars loss to the Capitals expands Chicago‘s lead in the division and conference to three points, but a loss could provide the Stars the opportunity to reclaim the title of ‘Best of the West.’

    As stated before, these teams met in the Western Conference Finals last season, where the Blackhawks won in Game Seven en route to their Stanley Cup.

    These squads have already met twice this season, with Chicago winning both games in overtime.  Most recently, they met in Anaheim, where the Blackhawks won 3-2 with extra time.

    Some players to watch in tonight’s game include Anaheim‘s Ryan Getzlaf (35 assists [tied for seventh-most in the league]) and Gibson (2.13 GAA [sixth-best in the league] and four shutouts [tied for fourth-most in the league]) & Chicago‘s Corey Crawford (seven shutouts [most in the league], 31 wins [second-most in the league], .929 save percentage [tied for fifth-best in the league] and 2.17 GAA [tied for eighth-best in the league]), Patrick Kane (77 points [leads the league], 44 assists (second-most in the league], 33 goals [second-most in the league] and +23 [tied for fourth-best in the league]) and Artemi Panarin (52 points [tied for seventh-most in the league]).

    Another night in Chicago, another same old prediction.  Although the Stars bested what I predicted, I fully expect the Hawks to take care of the Ducks in the United Center.

  • January 13 – Day 95 – It’s time for these teams to put their foot on the gas

    In yesterday’s Game of the Day, the Chicago Blackhawks held on for a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators to extend their winning streak to eight.

    Only one goal was scored in the first period, and it belonged to the Hawks.  With only 58 seconds remaining in the period, First Star of the Game Andrew Shaw gave the Blackhawks the lead, assisted by Second Star Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews (his 16th helper of the season).

    The busiest period was by far the second.  Chicago opened the period scoring after 6:14 ticked off the clock courtesy of Shaw’s second tally of the evening, assisted by Hossa (his 14th assist of the season) and Dennis Rasmussen.  The Hawks‘ final goal of the game, and ultimately their game-winner, occurred 7:04 later when Brent Seabrook set the score at 3-0, assisted by Patrick Kane (his 38th assist) and Erik Gustafsson.  Only 18 later, Mike Ribeiro scored his fifth goal of the season to get the score back to 3-1, which held into the second intermission.

    Nashville‘s final goal of the night did not occur until the 19:23 mark, a power play tally from Filip Forsberg after assists from Ryan Johansen and Ribeiro (his 23rd assist).

    Third Star Corey Crawford made saved 41 of 43 (95.3%) to improve his record to 24-10-2, while Pekka Rinne’s record falls to 16-14-6 after saving 20 of 23 (87%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 38-19-8, favoring the home squad by 26 points over the roadies.

    A busy Tuesday has come and gone; lets take a step back with today’s four-game schedule.  Columbus and Toronto (SN) get things started at 7 p.m. eastern, followed an hour later by Boston at Philadelphia (NBCSN/TVAS).  The western games get going at 9:30 p.m. eastern with Florida visiting Calgary (SN1), followed half an hour later by tonight’s nightcap between Ottawa and Anaheim (RDS).

    None of tonight’s games are between divisional rivals, both teams currently qualifying for the playoffs, or a rematch of last year’s playoffs.

    Today’s Game of the Day is Ottawa at Anaheim, due to both of these teams having playoff aspirations, but currently sit outside the tournament looking in.

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    Ottawa has been featured in the Game of the Day series six times before tonight, and currently owns a 2-3-1 record in such games.  Their most showing in the series was a 7-3 loss in Boston on December 29.  This will be Anaheim‘s fourth appearance in the series, where they own a 0-1-2 record.  The Ducks‘ most recent game as the focus of our attention was a 4-3 overtime loss to the Coyotes on November 9.

    The 20-17-6 Ottawa Senators currently sit in sixth place in the Atlantic Division and 11th in the Eastern Conference.  They play a top-10 offense, but have not been able to break into the playoffs due to the second-worst defense in the league.

    Ottawa‘s offense doesn’t put the puck on net very often (only 1222 times in their 43 games, led by Erik Karlsson’s 116), but they score a whopping 9.5% for 116 goals (led by Mike Hoffman’s 20 tallies), eighth-most in the league.  The Sens still need to improve on the power play, scoring on 18.05% attempts for 24 goals (led by Hoffman’s five tallies), but it doesn’t seem like they are too worried with such success in five-on-five play.

    The offense has needed to be good to compensate for, frankly, an atrocious defense, especially for a team with playoff aspirations.  They’ve allowed 1429 shots to be fired (even with Karlsson’s team-leading 88 blocks), of which 17-12-4 Craig Anderson and co. have saved an average 91.7% for 127 goals against, second-most in the league.  The special teams issues continue into the penalty kill, where Ottawa has killed only 76.22% for 34 goals against.  Matters are made a little less terrible though, as the penalty kill has actually been very successful with the puck on their stick, scoring eight shorties already this season (led by Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s four goals).

    In their last showing, the Sens were handily defeated 7-1 in Washington on Sunday, and they currently trail Boston by a single point for a wild card spot.

    The 17-17-7 Anaheim Ducks currently occupy fifth place in the Pacific Division and 11th in the Western Conference.  Their game play is the exact opposite of Ottawa‘s, as the Ducks are one of the best teams in the league on defense, yet have arguably the worst offense in the game.

    Thanks in part to Kevin Bieksa’s team-leading 69 blocks, the Ducks‘ opposition has only managed 1120 shots so far this season, 91.7% of which have been collectively saved by 9-6-2 John Gibson and co. for only 97 goals against, fourth-least in the league.  The penalty kill has been equally as strong, killing 89.66% of opposing power plays for only 15 goals against.

    Measured by goals scored, Anaheim has the worst offense in the league, but it’s not for a lack of effort.  The Ducks have attempted 1231 shots so far this season (led by Corey Perry’s 119 shots), but only 6.2% have found the back of the net for a measly 76 scores (led by Perry’s 16).  To give a better understanding of how few tallies this is, Philadelphia has scored the second-fewest goals this season, and they have 91 to their credit, 13 more than the Ducks.  The peculiar quandary that is Anaheim exhibits itself in the Ducks‘ power play, which is actually slightly better than the average team’s in the NHL.  Anaheim has scored on 19.27% of their attempts for 21 goals to their credit (led by Perry’s six).

    The Ducks‘ most recent game was a 2-1 loss to the Red Wings on Sunday, and they currently trail San Jose by three points for the third spot in the division.

    Some players to watch in tonight’s game include Anaheim‘s Gibson (1.84 GAA [leads the league] and four shutouts [tied for third-best in the league]) & Ottawa‘s Anderson (17 wins [tenth-best in the league]), Hoffman (20 goals [tied for eighth-most in the league]) and Karlsson (36 assists [second-most in the lead] and 45 points [fourth-most in the league]).

    I predict Anaheim to win tonight’s game on home ice, mostly because their incredible defense should be able to handle anything Ottawa can throw at them.  The Sens also like to commit a lot of penalties, giving the Ducks the opportunity to beat them on the power play.

  • November 9 – Day 34 – Out of Necessity, Vol. 3

    Yesterday’s Game of the Day between the Dallas Stars and the Detroit Red Wings ended pretty close to how I think many expected it to, as the Stars won 4-1.

    Dallas didn’t wait too long to get their first score on the board.  Assisted by First Star of the Game John Klingberg and Tyler Seguin, Patrick Sharp scored a power play goal only 7:22 into the game.  The eventual game winner was scored almost eight minutes later (7:57, to be precise) by Valeri Nichushkin (his first of the year) after being assisted by Third Star Jordie Benn and Jyrki Jokipakka.  With only 27 seconds remaining in the period, Detroit got back within a goal after Second Star Gustav Nyquist notched a power play tally, assisted by Niklas Kronwall and Mike Green.  The 2-1 score held well into the third period before things started falling apart in the Joe.

    Only down a goal, Detroit pulled goaltender Petr Mrazek (Jimmy Howard started, but took a knee to the head at the 7:09 mark of the third), but Seguin, assisted by Sharp and Klingberg, made the Wings pay with an empty netter at the 18:52 mark.  Seventeen seconds later, Vernon Fiddler sent a puck over the glass, giving the Wings a power play, so they again pulled Mrazek to have a two-man advantage.  Yet once again, it was the Stars who scored, as Jamie Benn assisted Cody Eakin to a shorthanded empty netter, Dallas‘ fourth goal of the evening.

    Kari Lehtonen improved his record to 6-1-0 after saving 21 of 22 (95.5%), while Howard’s record falls to 3-3-1 after saving 20 of 22 (90.9%).  Since the final two Stars goals were empty netters, Petr Mrazek technically shut Dallas out in his 11:06 played after saving both shots he faced, earning a no-decision.

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 19-9-5, favoring the home squad by 13 points over the roadies.

    If you’ve been following along with us all season, you already know what’s coming based on the title of this post.  There’s a whopping… *insert_drumroll_here.mp3*… one game being played tonight!  *insert_cymbal_crash_and_cool_instrumental_vamp_here.mp3*  Yes, the entire attention of the NHL will be turned to The Pond tonight when the Anaheim Ducks host the Arizona Coyotes at 10 p.m. eastern.

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    This is Arizona‘s first appearance in the DtFR Game of the Day series, while Anaheim is making their third.  The last time they were featured, they fell in overtime in the United Center after playing all of regulation to a scoreless tie.

    The 6-6-1 Arizona Coyotes enter tonight’s game in fourth place in the Pacific Division and 10th place in the Western Conference.  Their most recent game was a 4-1 thumping from the New York Rangers at Gila River Arena on Saturday.  So far this season, the Coyotes have been a better defensive team, but both ends of the ice are still sub-par in comparison to the rest of the league.

    One of the few things Arizona has gotten right all season has been keeping opposing shots off Mike Smith.  Led by Zbynek Michalek’s  26 blocks, only 395 shots have required a save.  The defense may continue to be asked for more though, as Smith and his backup, Anders Lindback, have saved only 90.6% of those shots combined, allowing 38 goals so far this season.

    That being said, the penalty kill has been fairly successful this season.  On 50 opposing attempts, only eight goals have been scored, giving them a 84% kill rate that exceeds the league average by a decent bit (2.81% as of Sunday morning).

    On the other end, the offense has only put 371 shots on goal (led by Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s 45), of which only 35 have completed their journey in the back of the net.

    A major shortcoming of the Coyotes‘ is their power play.  Although they’ve earned a considerable 53 attempts, they’ve only managed to score six times.  That power play rate of 11.32% is made even worse due to the fact that the Coyotes have allowed a whopping four shorthanded goals already this year.  The special teams need to be a point of focus should Arizona want to take advantage of a weak division.

    The 5-7-2 Anaheim Ducks enter the game on a four-game win streak, last beating the San Jose Sharks 1-0 in The Tank on Saturday.  They currently sit at fifth in the Pacific Division and 11th in the Western Conference, and are beginning to resemble the Ducks we expected to see this season.

    Defense, specifically goaltending, has been the name of the game in Anaheim, as they’ve only allowed 33 goals so far this season.  Even though Frederik Andersen and his backup, Anton Khudobin, have faced 442 shots combined, they’ve saved a strong 93% of those attempts.  Add that in with Kevin Bieksa’s 28 blocks, and you find a team that plays as sound a defense as possible.

    Even on the penalty kill, the Ducks have found ways to keep the opposition off the board.  On 48 attempts, opponents have scored only four power play goals.  If you’re doing the math in your head, the number you’ve come to is not wrong: the Ducks are killing 91.67% of their penalties, a rate that exceeds the league average by over 10%.

    The offense has had a tough time getting started this year, as they’ve only managed 393 shots so far (led by Jakob Silfverberg’s 32, even though he has yet to score).  They’ve scored on 5.3% of those attempts for a measly 22 goals, but half of those goals have come during their four-game win streak, which should probably make their division rivals a little worried.

    A spot where Anaheim still needs to improve is the power play.  On 42 attempts, only five pucks have found the back of the net for a lowly 11.9% success rate.  Again, it seems like Anaheim has finally started getting their skates under them, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see these numbers begin to climb in the next few weeks.

    Last season, the Ducks won the season series 3-0-2, but were only 1-0-1 at the Honda Center.

    Some players to watch in this one include Anaheim‘s Andersen (.935 save percentage [seventh in the league] and 2.03 GAA [tenth in the league]) and Arizona‘s Martin Hanzal (12 assists [tied for fifth in the league]).

    Based on the statistics, their current winning streak, and the fact that they’re playing at home, I expect the Anaheim Ducks to take care of business in this one and move into fourth place in the division.

  • October 26 – Day 20 – Are the Ducks quacks?

    Yesterday’s Game of the Day between the Calgary Flames and the New York Rangers ended in a 4-1 victory for the Blueshirts.  Although the Flames had a great start to the evening by posting a goal at the 3:06 mark of the first period, the Rangers were able to take the lead during second and never look back.

    Jiri Hudler was responsible for the Flames‘ lone goal.  He scored his third of the season following assists from Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.

    New York tied the game at the 12:03 mark of the second.  Oscar Lindberg was responsible for the tally, assisted by Kevin Hayes and Marc Staal.  They took the lead only 4:54 later, compliments of of Dan Girardi’s game winner, assisted by Emerson Etem and Jarret Stoll.  The 2-1 score held into the second intermission.

    During the third, Kevin Klein scored his second goal of the year at the 8:38 mark, followed by the final goal only 1:48 later by Derick Brassard, assisted by Jesper Fast and Ryan McDonagh.

    Antti Raanta earned his second win in as many starts by stopping 22 of 23 (95.7%), while Jonas Hiller took the loss after stopping only 17 of 21 (81%).  He was pulled at the 12:01 mark of the final period and replaced with Joni Ortio, who stopped all five shots he faced.

    The DtFR Game of the Day series still favors the home team by eight points, currently standing at 11-5-3.

    Today is the second straight of only three games on the schedule.  First up at 7 p.m. eastern, the Flames hop on the B Train a day after playing the Rangers to face their opponent’s in-town rivals, the New York Islanders, at the Barclays Center.  Half an hour after that game gets underway, Arizona visits the Air Canada Centre to face Toronto.  Finally, Anaheim and Chicago round the night out in the United Center, with the opening puck dropping at 8:30 p.m. eastern (NHL Network).

    It’s been a trip down memory lane this weekend for Chicago, as they hosted the Stanley Cup runners-up Saturday.  The throwback to last season continues tonight when the Western Conference’s runners-up come a-calling.

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    Although the Ducks were only a victory away from earning the right to face the Lightning in last year’s Stanley Cup Finals, they have looked nowhere near being considered contenders early this season.  The Ducks may literally waddle into the United Center tonight, having only a 1-5-1 record to show for their efforts.  Unlike division rival Calgary, whose plight was documented yesterday, the Ducks are right on par with the rest of the league in regards to goals against, as they’ve given up one less than the league average.  As I’m sure you’ve now assumed, the Ducks‘ concerns are with their forwards.  Anaheim has scored a grand total of six goals this season.  Yes, six goals over seven games.  What’s worse, they scored four of those goals in one game (10/18 against Minnesota).  Do the math, and that’s four times they’ve been shutout in seven games (they’re coming off one Saturday night at Minnesota).  In other words, not good.

    One of the issues here is an ineffective power play.  In 19 opportunities, the Ducks have only scored a lone power play goal.  Their 5.26% power play percentage trails the league average by 13.28%.  Another issue is the number of shots the Ducks are putting on goal.  Anaheim‘s 193 shots are 40 below the league average.  You’d think that would help their shot percentage… think again.  Anaheim trails the league in that category too, as their 3.1% trails the NHL average by 5.9%.

    Compare this to the team that rocked The Pond a season ago.  During the regular season, that squad scored 12 more goals than the league average, and allowed only two more than the average.  While the power play still was not on par with the rest of the NHL last season, it still exceeds this year’s effort as the special teams scored 15.68% of the time. Luckily, this year’s defense and goaltending is comparable, if not slightly surpassing last year’s excellent squad.

    So, what gives?  I think the loss of LW Matt Beleskey to Boston during free agency has a big part to do with it.  He scored 22 goals last season for the Ducks, third best on the team.  18 of those goals were during 5-on-5 play, where he also ranked third.  His four remaining goals were all on the power play, which tied for fourth on the team with Corey Perry.  Eight of his goals were game-winners, which led the team by two goals.  A goal scorer also brings with him shots, as he put 145 pucks on goal last season, placing him at fifth-best on the squad.  With those shots, though, came the second-best shot percentage (15.2%), trailing only Perry’s 17.1%.

    Additionally, the power play might also be struggling due to RW Kyle Palmieri being traded to the Devils during the offseason.  He accounted for five power play goals last season, which tied for second on the team.

    Turning our attention to the Stanley Cup Champions, we find a team that is settling into their groove and beginning to climb the ranks of the Western Conference.  Currently, the Hawks have a 5-3-0 record, giving them the second wild card position and fifth place in the conference.  Chicago enters the game on a three-game win streak, most recently shutting out the Lightning at home in overtime with a quick goal by Jonathan Toews.

    Similar to Anaheim, Chicago‘s offense hasn’t been glitzy, but they’ve been winning by keeping opposing offenses off the board.  They’ve given up only 16 goals so far this season, five goals under the league average.  Where they’ve really shined offensively is on the power play.  In 33 opportunities, they’ve converted six for goals (18.18%), which have accounted for a third of their total tallies this season.  Probably what is most frightening about the Hawks in light of their win streak is their number of shots (249, 16 over the league average) compared to their shooting percentage (7.2%).  If and when they get that percentage up, even if its just to the 9% league average, their offense will be a significant threat to any goalie.

    Some players to watch in tonight’s game include Anaheim‘s Frederik Andersen (.938 save percentage [tenth in the league]) and Chicago‘s Corey Crawford (one shutout [tied for fourth in the league], four wins [tied for seventh in the league] and 1.84 GA average [tied for ninth in the league]) & Patrick Kane (11 points [tied for fourth in the league] and five goals [tied for eighth in the league]).

    I expect a defensive, competitive matchup tonight that will end positively for Chicago, probably 1-0 or 2-1.