Game two of the Anaheim Ducks season is tonight and if they want it to go better than Saturday night in San Jose, the offensive stars will need to lead the way.
The Ducks enter tonight in search of their first goal of the season and it will be the premiere offensive players on the roster that need to step up.
The Ducks top five forwards of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Carl Hagelin, and Jakob Silfverberg combined for just 10 shots Saturday night against San Jose and four of those ten shots came from Silfverberg.
The top five forwards need to be more assertive tonight and they will need to do so by throwing more pucks at the net.
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Some of that lack of production could be attributed to the line combinations. Getzlaf and Hagelin didn’t look to be in sync playing with each other. Getzlaf is more of a cycling, wait for things to develop, facilitator and Hagelin likes to create more offense off the rush. Not to say they both can’t play each style, it just doesn’t seem to be syncing up quite yet.
Getzlaf is better with Perry on his line but Perry was down on the third line playing alongside Rickard Rakell and Jiri Sekac Saturday night. And while that line did perform well, both Perry and Getzlaf would benefit by being back together. Their chemistry is second to none and the Ducks are much better with them together than apart.
Kesler and Silfverberg were back playing together in the opener after their great performance in the post-season last year.
Anaheim Ducks
They played well and generated some chances but it was Silfverberg that seemed more engaged. Kesler and Silfverberg like to get things going on the rush and adding Hagelin to that line may be the 2nd line tri-fecta the Ducks have been looking for. All three hound pucks and won’t give an inch. The Ducks offense would benefit from those three playing together.
This isn’t an overreaction to one game and through the course of the season you’re going to have games where the offense just isn’t there.
This also isn’t set out to take anything away from Martin Jones who stone-walled the Ducks on numerous great chances in the opener.
But this is to say the Ducks didn’t come at the Sharks with the best line-up they have at their disposal. When healthy, having Getzlaf-Perry together and having a second line of Hagelin-Kesler-Silfverberg is what makes the Ducks most dangerous.
The sooner the coaching staff realizes this, the better things will be. Hopefully the changes come tonight in the home opener where the offense can come alive and lead the Ducks to a big win.
Next: Anaheim Ducks Week 1 Monday Mornin' On The Pond
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