A Big 4 Game East Coast Road Trip Begins Tonight For The Anaheim Ducks
Oct 22, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Anaheim Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau talks with his team during a timeout during the third period against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. The Predators won 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
The Anaheim Ducks are set to begin a four game east coast road trip tonight in Carolina before heading to Nashville tomorrow night. The trip moves to Florida on Thursday before concluding Saturday night in Tampa Bay.
The Ducks have 10 points in their last seven games but have let a few points slip through their fingers. They will have to do a much better job of gaining and protecting leads on this trip, especially tomorrow night on the second end of a back-to-back against the Nashville Predators.
Simon Despres (concussion), Nate Thompson (shoulder) and Jiri Sekac (ankle) remain out and will not see action on the road trip.
Ducks general manager Bob Murray decided to bring some young offensive talent on the trip as he recalled top forward prospect Nick Ritchie from AHL San Diego yesterday. Ritchie is set to make his NHL debut tonight in Carolina.
Center Michael Sgarbossa was also recalled for the trip as Chris Wagner was claimed off of waivers yesterday by the Colorado Avalanche. With Despres still out, Murray also recalled defensemen Korbinian Holzer to serve as the seventh defensemen on the road trip.
With that, here is your road trip preview!
Next: Tonight in Carolina
Jun 27, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Nicholas Ritchie puts on a team sweater after being selected as the number ten overall pick to the Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Tonight in Carolina
Carolina is currently 6-9-2 (7th in the metropolitan division) 1-2-2 in their last 5 games.
The Ducks will face the Carolina Hurricanes tonight for the first time this season after going 2-0 against them last season.
Nick Ritchie is set to make his NHL debut tonight, playing alongside Ryan Kesler and Chris Stewart. The Rakell–Getzlaf–Perry line looks to remain intact and Shawn Horcoff, Andrew Cogliano and Carl Hagelin will play on the Ducks third line.
Mike Santorelli takes over the fourth line center duties, playing in-between Pat Maroon and a slumping Jakob Silfverberg, who has been moved down to the fourth line. Defensively the Ducks should look the same as they have the past couple of games.
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Anton Khudobin will get the start tonight for the Ducks against his former team as Bruce Boudreau has elected to save Freddie Andersen for tomorrow night’s game against the western conference Nashville Predators.
Eddie Lack will be in net for Carolina and he comes into tonight’s game with a 3.46 goals against average and a .865% save percentage.
Carolina’s leading scorer to this point is the familiar face, Eric Staal, who has 12 points so far this season and he has five points in his last five games. Defensemen Justin Faulk is again leading the way on the Carolina blue-line, posting 11 points thus far and he is playing a little over 25 minutes per game.
The Ducks will get their first look at rookie defensemen Noah Hanifin, who was taken fifth overall by Carolina at the most recent draft.
James Wisniewski was traded from Anaheim to Carolina at the draft in the Khudobin trade, but Wiz unfortunately suffered a torn ACL earlier this season and remains out. Carolina will also be without another defensemen, Ryan Murphy, who suffered a concussion recently. Michal Jordan will be taking his place in the lineup tonight (not the MJ your thinking of).
Carolina’s power play ranks 27th while their penalty kill ranks 17th, a big opportunity for the Ducks to shine on special teams.
Carolina does rank first in the NHL in shots allowed per game at 24.9, the Ducks will need to work hard tonight in order to pepper Lack.
Next: Tuesday in Nashville
Nov 1, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; Anaheim Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen (31) defends the net next to Nashville Predators center Colin Wilson (33) during the second period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Tuesday in Nashville
Nashville is currently 10-3-3 (3rd in the central division) 3-1-1 in their last 5 games.
Freddie Andersen should get the start Tuesday in Nashville and he will have to once again be very good as the Ducks will be playing the second end of a back to back.
The Ducks and Preds have split the two games they’ve played so far this season and Tuesday will be their final meeting of the regular season.
Expect lineup decisions to be made based upon what happens in the Carolina game, if the Ducks play well Boudreau could keep things the same in Nashville.
James Neal is playing well right now as he leads the Preds with 14 points. Nashville’s top defensive pairing continues to be one of the leagues best as Roman Josi and Shea Weber have combined for 21 points so far and each is playing over 24 minutes per game.
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The Preds depth on the blue-line is incredible and that depth is led by Seth Jones, who has 10 points on the season, five of which have come in his last four games. Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis were the depth defensemen that burned the Ducks earlier this season in that Preds 5-1 win, and each has four points in their last four games.
Nashvilles power play ranks 9th while their penalty kill ranks 16th, pretty low for a team with so much defensive depth.
Pekka Rinne should get the start in this one for the Preds but we will not know for sure until Tuesday morning.
Under the reign of Boudreau, the Ducks have performed well in the second end of back-to-backs and Tuesday in Nashville will be a big test.
Next: Thursday in Florida
November 4, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; Anaheim Ducks center Andrew Cogliano (7) defends against Florida Panthers right wing Jaromir Jagr (68) during the third period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Thursday in Florida
Florida is currently 7-7-3 (7th in the atlantic division) 2-3 in their last 5 games.
This will be the second and final meeting of the season between the Ducks and Panthers after Anaheim won a crazy game at Honda Center two weeks ago. Corey Perry tied the game up in the dying seconds of regulation and the Ducks went on to win the game in a shootout.
However, Florida was without one of their star players in that game, Aleksander Barkov, who should be in Florida’s lineup Thursday night. Roberto Luongo was in net for that crazy game two weeks ago and could again be in net Thursday night.
The ageless wonder, Jaromir Jagr is tied for the Panthers scoring lead at 13 points on the season. He continues to turn back the clock and is showing all the old men of the world how it’s done. It is incredible to watch him every time he is on the ice, he is still a special player.
Florida’s speed and transition game hurt the Ducks last season but Boudreau seems to have found a way to counter that and it was apparent as the Ducks faired much better against the Panthers in that first meeting at Honda Center.
Florida’s power play ranks 5th while their penalty kill is not doing so hot and ranks 28th, another big opportunity for the Duck power play to get something going.
Next: Saturday in Tampa Bay
Feb 18, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; Anaheim Ducks right wing Devante Smith-Pelly (12) is called for a roughing penalty against Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr (62) in the third period as Lightning center Brian Boyle (11) watches at Honda Center. The Lightning defeated the Ducks 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Saturday in Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is currently 8-8-3 (3rd in the atlantic division) 2-2-1 in their last 5 games.
This will be the first meeting of the season for the Ducks and Lightning. Tampa took both games last season as their speed was a big factor against a bigger Ducks team.
Bob Murray has added guys like Hagelin, Santorelli and Stewart to help counter some of the speedy teams of the east like Tampa.
This will be another big test for the Ducks going in to Tampa to take on the reigning Eastern conference champions. Ondrej Palat remains out with an ankle injury and will not play in this one.
Steven Stamkos is showing his value in a contract year as he leads the Lightning in points at 14, four in his last four games. Victor Hedman is proving that his breakthrough postseason performance was no fluke, he has 12 points on the season. Tyler Johnson is also starting to heat up after a slow start.
The Lightning power play ranks 15th and their penalty kill ranks 19th.
This will be a big game for the Ducks as they will look to end the road trip on an extremely high note before heading home to Honda Center.
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There you have it, your four game road trip preview. Can the Ducks go 4-0 to cap off a perfect roadie, we shall see.