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Anaheim Ducks Week 1: Monday Mornin’ On The Pond

By Griffin Foster

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Anaheim Ducks fans and hockey fans, welcome to the first edition of Pucks of a Feather’s ‘Monday mornin’ on the pond’ (MMOTP).

‘Monday mornin’ on the pond’ is a weekly post that I will be putting together, giving you the latest Ducks and NHL news from the previous week.

The title is self explanatory that these posts will occur every Monday morning. So when you are having a rough case of the Mondays at work or school, give yourself a quick five and check out ‘Monday mornin’ on the pond’.

What will ‘Monday mornin’ on the pond’ include?

-Recap of the past week around the NHL

-Recap of the Anaheim Ducks week

-Whose hot/not

-San Diego Gulls prospect updates

-Player of the week (non-Ducks player)

-Anaheim Ducks 3 stars of the week

-Plays of the week

-Quick look at the week ahead for the Ducks

-Weekly power rankings

‘Monday mornin’ on the pond’ is the best way for you to stay up to date on all things Anaheim Ducks related while also staying current on things happening around the league.

Let’s jump right into the week 1 edition of ‘Monday mornin’ on the pond’.

Week 1

Hockey is back and back in a big way. The past week offered up a slate of 31 games and if you were as antsy as I was for the return of hockey, you probably watched the majority of those games.

From coaches challenges to 3-on-3 overtime to shutouts to hat tricks, ‘week one’ was everything you had hoped it would be.

The Blackhawks lost a tough one on opening night but they did raise another banner, so everything is okay in Chi-town. The Rangers looked good on opening night and have opened up the season 3-0, king Henrik has a quick three wins under his belt.

Mike Babcock’s debut as the Maple Leafs head coach was not bad, but it was also not great. His return to Detroit did not go so well however, Justin Abdelkader’s hat trick and Jimmy Howard’s shutout spoiled that homecoming.

The Kings have started the season with 5-1 and 4-1 losses to San Jose and Arizona. Both losses occurred at home, yikes. The Mike Richards settlement will also reportedly keep him on the Kings books until 2031, another yikes, but things could have ended up worse for Dean Lombardi.

Night two of the regular season gave us our first glimpse at 3-on-3 overtime. It came as advertised, a defensemen scored on a breakaway. Get ready for some crazy overtime action this season, there is a ton of open ice.

Did I mention players were making passes off the boards to themselves during the 3-on-3?

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The debut of Connor Mcdavid and Jack Eichel was much anticipated but only Eichel found the back of the net in game one. Rex Ryan is even excited about the future of the Sabres with Eichel in the lineup.

Ottawa has a very lethal line of Kyle Turris, Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone. Turris and Hoffman hooked up on both of Turris’ opening night goals. Ottawa got the win against Buffalo.

The highly anticipated Pittsburgh Penguins offense was shutout in their opener by the apparently much improved Dallas Stars defense. Is Antti Niemi going to be a difference maker?

The most exciting game on night two was the Minnesota versus Colorado game.

Colorado held a 4-1 lead after two periods but Minnesota responded with four goals in the third and went on to beat the Avs 5-4. Zack Parise posted a hat trick and the Wild will need more of that if they want to find a playoff spot in the tough central division.

Oh yea, former Duck Francois Beauchemin posted three assists in his debut with Colorado and he has five assists through the Avs first two games, go figure.

The Columbus Blue Jackets had a very loud offseason but have fallen to 0-2 after starting the season on a home and home with the Rangers. A pair of 4-2 and 5-2 losses could point to the Jackets defense not being up to par with their offense.

Montreal and Boston still don’t like each other and that’s pretty obvious.

Ottawa and Toronto went to a shootout, so maybe the 3-on-3 isn’t a lock to end every game that goes past regulation. A shootout here and there may be nice.

Jaromir Jagr and the Florida Panthers exploded for seven goals against the Flyers and Tampa Bay has gotten off to a nice start as well. Victor Hedman’s breakthrough performance in the postseason was no fluke, he’s a true Norris contender this season.

Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim Ducks /

Anaheim Ducks

The Predators blanked the Oilers on Saturday so you didn’t miss McDavid’s first goal. Don’t worry, he will score eventually.

Chicago backed up their opening night loss with back to back wins against the Islanders. This is a different Hawks team. Tikhonov, Anisimov, Garbutt, Svedburg and Panarin are the new names you need to know.

You may be saying to yourself “how does Chicago have so many new players that I don’t know, I just watched them play the ducks a few months back!”

Well, salary cap and financial issues have a tendency to spark change. Patrick Kane is still really good though.

Arizona beat the Kings and Penguins to start their season. So, yeah.

Johnny hockey gave Calgary their first win with an overtime goal against Vancouver after the Canucks beat the Flames on opening night.

After another win on Sunday night against Ottawa, Montreal is off to a really nice 3-0 start. Their new captain Max Pacioretty had a great opening night as well, scoring the first goal of the NHL season.

Anaheim Ducks Week 1

By Friday night you were probably questioning the decisions of the NHL schedule makers who forced you into waiting until Saturday to see the Anaheim Ducks.

You were probably incredibly excited that Ducks hockey was back!

Well, after the long wait…..the Ducks were shutout by the Sharks on opening night.

The game was back and forth for a while but two defensive mishaps hurt the Ducks and just like last season, Anaheim starts the season 0-1 after a road loss.

Freddie Andersen was incredible throughout the game but the Sharks defense minimized the Ducks scoring chances. Martin Jones wasn’t half bad either in his shutout performance.

The Ducks stopped moving their legs in the third period and San Jose took advantage of that. Cam Fowler is in midseason form after posting a -2 rating in the opener and the Stoner/Vatanen pairing made a number of questionable passes/decisions.

Getzlaf and Perry started the game on separate lines but the always impatient Bruce Boudreau ended up giving them some shifts together. Nothing happened however and it will be interesting to see what he does with the twins tonight in the home opener.

Whose Hot For The Anaheim Ducks

Freddie Andersen. He was just about the only Ducks player that showed up ready to play on Saturday night.

42 saves on 44 shots was incredible, to bad his teams offense was snake bitten and couldn’t find the back of the net. Freddie is in midseason form and that should give everyone hope despite a tough opening night loss.

Whose Not Hot For The Anaheim Ducks

Clayton Stoner. After an offseason of dealing with  grizzly bear related off-ice trouble, Stoner appears to now be having some on-ice troubles.

A number of careless plays with the puck led to some head scratches and possibly some murmurs of ‘what are you doing!?’. Stoner needs to tighten things up because Josh Manson is banging at the door, waiting to join the party.

San Diego Gulls Prospects Update

The Gulls won their opener at home by a score of 4-2.

Nick Ritchie stole the show by scoring twice and John Gibson stopped 32 of 34 shots. Maybe both are a little ticked off that they are not starting the year in Anaheim.

Brandon Montour added a goal and the Gulls appear as though they will be one of the AHL’s more exciting teams this season.

The Gulls next game is Friday night against the Bakersfield Condors, the Oilers AHL affiliate.

NHL Player of the Week

Martin Jones, San Jose Sharks goalie.

After giving up a goal on the first shot he faced this season, Jones has been perfect since.

He started with a 5-1 win against his former club, the Los Angeles Kings, the same team that traded him away this season and he is now the number one goaltender for the Kings rival up north. Jones was probably feeling good after that one.

Jones then worked his magic against the Ducks on Saturday night, earning his first shutout of the season and it’s safe to say he might get a few more.

One goal allowed through your first two games as a number one goaltender, not bad.

Mr. Jones is my player of the week for the short week one.

Anaheim Ducks 3 Stars of the Week

1st Star- Freddie Andersen

Freddie was unreal in the opener, stopping 42 of 44 shots would usually earn a win playing behind the Ducks prolific offense but this was a game where the offense went to bed early. Freddie has already shown that he’s come to play this season but unfortunately for him, we don’t know if any of his teammates have yet.

2nd Star- Corey Perry

I mean, he hit the post/crossbar, so I guess that makes him the best offensive player from the opener?

Perry made some other nice plays but just couldn’t find the back of the net. He still looks comfortable playing next to Rakell so I think Boudreau could let that experiment run for another couple of games.

3rd Star- Hampus Lindholm

25:16 ice time for the Swede in the opener. He finished with an even rating despite playing five minutes more than Fowler who was a -2.

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Lindholm has proven that he can play 24-26 minutes a night and be effective. His two-way game is going to be unnoticeable to most, but if you pay attention closely you will see a two-way blue-line star in the making.

Fast forward this video to 3:16 and watch the play that Lindholm makes. He botches the puck and Nietto gets a breakaway. The powerful yet quick first step and recovery speed of Lindholm is ridiculous. He catches up to Nietto and spoils the scoring chance.

That skating ability, angle play and hockey IQ is why Lindholm has a +54 rating through his first two NHL seasons.

Anaheim Ducks Stat of the Week

42 saves was the most that Freddie Andersen has ever made in a regular season game that he lost. A .955% save percentage usually results in a win.

Play of the Week

Alex Ovechkin’s goal…… filthy, here it is.

Anaheim Ducks Play of the Week

The Lindholm play. I just can’t get over how perfectly he recovered on this play. There was also not much offense to cheer about, so here’s Lindholm’s play (fast forward to 3:16).

Anaheim Ducks Preview of the Week Ahead

4 home games for the Ducks this week and it starts with the home opener tonight against the Vancouver Canucks. Honda Center should be rocking.

Vancouver started off with an impressive win against Calgary on opening night. Watch out for the new guys in Vancouver’s lineup, former Penguin Brandon Sutter found his way onto the scoresheet on opening night with some great hand eye skill.

Kevin Bieksa will be playing against the Canucks for the first time in his career, let’s see if he mixes things up with any old teammates.

The Ducks are back at home again on Wednesday night when they take on the Arizona Coyotes.

Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim Ducks /

Anaheim Ducks

Rookie Max Domi scored in Arizona’s beat down of the Kings and the Yotes have quietly beaten the Kings and Penguins to begin the season. Let’s see how long this type of play lasts.

The Colorado Avalanche are in Anaheim on Friday night and it is the return of Francois Beauchemin.

If there is one thing that I hope happens in that game, it is a Bieksa-Beauchemin fight. How crazy would that be?

This is also the night the Ducks will be wearing their new third jersey’s for the first time.

I’ll be nice and not link a picture to the jersey in case you haven’t seen them yet. Newsflash, it’s already been leaked. Welcome to 2015, nothing remains a secret anymore.

The Minnesota Wild are the final team to enter Honda Center during week 2 and that game will occur Sunday evening.

The Wild are off to a strong start with wins against Colorado and St. Louis. Zack Parise’s opening night hat trick got some attention and he will need to continue that kind of play to make the Wild true contenders.

Chris Stewart spent the second part of last season with the Wild and it will be his first game against his former club.

Power Rankings

Each Monday I will offer up my power rankings.

Since it is only week one and teams have one played one, two or three games to this point, these first rankings are based mostly off of last seasons results, off-season additions and some projections.

Chicago and Tampa Bay start at the top for now but week two’s power rankings could be a lot different.

1. Chicago Blackhawks

2. Tampa Bay Lightning

3. Anaheim Ducks

4. Washington Capitals

5. Montreal Canadiens

6. New York Rangers

7. San Jose Sharks

8. St. Louis Blues

9. Calgary Flames

10. Los Angeles Kings

Anaheim Ducks Final Thoughts

Keep an eye on how Bruce Boudreau uses his goaltenders this upcoming week. Andersen will start tonight but keep an eye on when Anton Khudobin plays. Whether it’s Wednesday, Friday or Sunday, Khudobin’s Duck debut could indicate how often Boudreau is planning on using him this season.

Lindholm played 25:16 in the opener and that is likely an ideal amount of ice time. He’s so steady defensively and his ability to timely join the rush makes him a clear candidate to be the Ducks ice time leader this season.

Expect Boudreau to use Getzlaf and Perry on the same line tonight. He wanted to experiment with them playing apart but Boudreau’s impatience will likely outweigh his creativeness, especially after the opening night shutout.

Josh Manson could draw in soon if the Vatanen/Stoner pairing continues to make questionable decisions. Manson had a great preseason and I wouldn’t be surprised if Boudreau gets him in the lineup sooner rather than later, Bruce likes to keep all his players fresh and does not like for guys to be out of the lineup to long.

The Ducks have no back to backs this week and neither do any of their opponents. Look for these games to be intense with a lot of early season energy.

That does it for your week one premiere edition of Anaheim Ducks ‘Monday mornin’ on the pond’.

Check back next Monday!

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