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Anaheim Ducks Rivalry Series: Ducks vs Sharks

By Chris Bushell

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As part of our new rivalry series, we take a look at marquee match-ups for the Anaheim Ducks all season long. Game one of the 15-16’ season will feature the Ducks taking on their NorCal rivals, the San Jose Sharks.

How they fared last season:

The Ducks would prefer to forget how their meetings with the Sharks went last season. Despite the Sharks being in a down year, the Ducks only managed to go 1-4-0 against them with their one win coming in overtime off a snipe from Ryan Kesler.

The Ducks were outscored 21-11 in those five games and looked bad in virtually all five. The lopsided scores were more a result of undisciplined play and not playing between the whistles. That should be rectified with the amount of veteran leadership in the Ducks room.

Despite taking only two points from their division rivals, the Ducks were still able to run away with the Pacific Division. That usually isn’t the norm when you play so poorly against a division foe and the Ducks will want to rectify that this coming season.

Where they’ll be:

This is the first game for the Ducks and they’ll get a test right off the bat as they will have to travel to San Jose and it will be the Sharks home opener.

The Sharks will be 1-0-0 after defeating the LA Kings 5-1 on Wednesday night.

Storylines to watch/ X-Factors:

Ducks-Sharks always have animosity and if the Sharks-Kings game was any indication how the California teams will play against one another, expect things to be nasty. Things already took a nasty turn in the pre-season between these two squads when Raffi Torres came across the ice and landed a shoulder to the head of Jakob Silfverberg.

Luckily Silfverberg has been practicing and all indications have him in the line-up Saturday night while Torres will be serving a half season suspension.

The Ducks made numerous moves in the off-season looking to finally find the piece or pieces to get them over the hump and bring home a second Stanley Cup. The most notable of which is Carl Hagelin brought in from the NY Rangers.

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Hagelin adds a speed dimension that has been a lacking area for the Ducks and he should figure to provide a secondary scoring spark. He, Kesler and Silfverberg could be the difference makers as their speed and cycling could ware down an older and slower Sharks defense.

The Sharks biggest off-season acquisition was trading for goaltender Martin Jones. Jones formally of the Kings was traded to the Boston Bruins and before he could pack a bag, he was subsequently traded to the Sharks.

Jones played well as back-up to Jonathan Quick but is ready to prove he can be a starter. He is off to a good start as he took down his former mates Wednesday night stopping 19 of 20 shots. Jones is familiar with the Ducks from his time in LA and the Sharks hope he can be the goaltender they’ve been lacking the past few seasons.

What to expect:

There shouldn’t be a huge feeling out period. These teams know each other well and don’t like each other. They’re also lining up to play each other under perfect conditions. The Ducks will want to come out early and set the tone. It’s the first time together as a whole team playing a meaningful game and they’ll want to silence the crowd in San Jose quickly on home opening night.

The Sharks are riding high after routing the Kings and they get their first two games against both their California rivals. They’ll look to start the season 2-0 and be feeling the momentum from the home crowd.

The Ducks struggled in these games last year not because the Sharks were the better team, but because they were the headier team. For whatever reason the Sharks get under the Ducks skin more than other teams and they lost their heads after giving up a goal, or being called for a bad penalty.

In this game things can snowball on you quickly.

The one win the Ducks got last season was the one game they played composed, controlled, and stuck to their style of play. If they can do that again they’ll leave the Shark tank with a 1-0 record and will get off to a great start to the season.

Next: Anaheim Ducks 2015-2016 Financial Breakdown

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