Ducks Win Home Opener!

Is it too early to say there was a playoff like atmosphere tonight at the Honda Center. Yeah? Okay, well forget I said that, even though it almost seemed like it. Anyway, the Ducks won the home opener tonight by a score of 1-0 over the San Jose Sharks and their “Infestation of the Honda Center.”

Maxime Macenauer scored his first career NHL goal in the first period on a nice feed from George Parros of all players. It turns out that was all of the scoring that was going to be in this year’s edition of the home opener. The first period, however, was probably the Sharks period though since they out shot the Ducks by a large margin, but really only had about one real good opportunity while the Ducks made the most of their few good chances in the first. The second period was a complete domination by the Ducks in basically every aspect of the game. Thomas Greiss and his best friend, the post, kept the game 1-0 at the end of the first. Then, in the third, the Sharks came out roaring and never let up. Hiller made some clutch saves late in the third period, including one very nice glove save with around five minutes left in the game. Then, with around four minutes left, Ryane Clowe of the Sharks had an empty net to shoot at but could only hit the outside of the net to keep Hiller’s shut out alive. Then, in the last few minutes, Hiller and the defense shut it down to give HIller his 12th career shut out and the first of this season. Here are some notes I got to say about this game:

• The top line of Perry-Getzlaf-Ryan still have not tallied any points at all. They did play very well at some points and did hit two posts tonight.
• Ducks power play continues to struggle as they couldn’t really get set up at all and when they did get set up, they couldn’t muster any opportunities.
• The Ducks new speed was clearly obvious tonight, especially in the first period that helped lead to the only goal of the night.
• The Sharks dominated the Ducks in the face off circle tonight, yeah, that’s gotta change.
• Hiller was a stud tonight.

In the end, the Ducks won, so that’s all that matters. But, you can tell that it is still early on in the season with some sloppy play and struggling offense, three goals in regulation in three games. But there will be games like this during the regular season where your goalie will have to put up a game that Hiller did tonight, so nothing to worry about.

Three Stars:

1. ANA – G – Jonas Hiller: 1.000 save %
2. ANA – D – Francois Beauchemin: 1 SOG
3. ANA – C – Maxime Macenauer: 1 G, 0 A, 1 P, 3 SOG, +/- 1