On Wednesday night, the Anaheim Ducks laid the smackdown on the Vancouver Canucks 9-1. This was the most goals ever scored by the Ducks in a game, as well as power play goals. Anaheim went an incredible 6 for 11 on the power play, which was especially impressive for a team that has struggled on the power play most of the year. They have now won 8 straight games and 18 of their last 19 games. Not since the Montreal Canadiens in 1967-68 has a team in the National Hockey League (NHL) won 18 of 19 games.
The Ducks are now 20-0-2 at home this year, tied with the 2009-09 San Jose Sharks for the 3rd best start at home in the NHL in the last 40 years. Only the Philadelphia Flyers in 1979-80 at 19-0-7, and the New York Islanders in 1978-79 at 19-0-4, have played more games to start a season without losing a game in regulation. Anaheim has now outscored their opponents 89-39 at home this season.
In this game, the Ducks received 2 goals each from Corey Perry, Nick Bonino, and Teemu Selanne. Perry now is 2nd in the NHL with 27 goals, trailing only Alex Ovechkin who has 34 goals. Anaheim now has 4 players with at least 15 goals. Besides Perry, Ryan Getzlaf has 23 goals, Andrew Cogliano has 16 goals, and Bonino now has 15. Getzlaf leads the Ducks with 32 assists, with Perry next at 26 assists.
Selanne’s first goal was the game winner, and was his 110th game winning goal of his career. He is now tied with Brett Hull for 3rd on that list, trailing only Jaromir Jagr with 122, and Phil Esposito with 118. Anaheim actually had a 7-minute 2 man advantage in the 3rd period, but were already ahead 7-1 when that power play started.
The Ducks were not even playing their top goalie Jonas Hiller Wednesday night, because he had the flu. Hiller has won 14 games in a row, which trails only Gilles Gilbert of the Boston Bruins in the 1975-76 season, when he won 17 games in a row. Back-up goalie Fredrick Andersen is no slouch either. He stopped 31 of 32 shots in this game, to push his record to 11-2-0 this season. In fact Andersen actually has a better goals against average (1.98 to 2.34) and save percentage than Hiller (.927 to .914).
Anaheim has the best record in the NHL, with 77 team points. The next closest team, the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks, have 71 team points. Teams get 2 points for a win, 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss, and 0 for a regulation loss. The Ducks have such a deep team, that they maintained their winning ways despite several injuries earlier in the season. Now one of coach Bruce Boudreau‘s toughest decisions is who will play and who will not play in each game. Look out for the Ducks as the season continues and into the playoffs.
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