Anaheim Ducks: Countdown to the Season Opener- John Gibson

The days are falling off the calendar quickly. That means that we are one day closer to regular season hockey. As of today, there are only 36 more days until the Anaheim Ducks take the ice for their season opener in San Jose.

It may be overkill for me to mention, for probably the millionth time, the shameful defeat the Anaheim Ducks experienced at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. A series sweep is never the ideal way to go out, especially after working so hard to make it into the playoffs.

The Anaheim Ducks execution during the playoffs certainly didn’t work out in their favor. There were many issues that bubbled to the surface during their shortened run for the Stanley Cup. Although the Ducks were aware of many of their drawbacks, they refused to fully acknowledge them until it was too late.

However, all of those problems took center stage the moment the Ducks took the ice during Game 1 of the Conference Quarter-finals. The obstacles the Ducks faced were like the ferocious Hydra in the legend of Hercules. If they attempted to solve one problem, three more would pop up in its place.

Despite every complication that stood in the Ducks way during the 2017-18 season, there always seemed to be one constant. John Gibson always stepped up when the rest of the team couldn’t. Of course, he didn’t make it through the playoffs without having to jump over some significant hurdles of his own. We can’t blame him when he barely had a team in front of him.

To loosely quote General Manager Bob Murray, good goaltending covers up quite a bit of inefficiency. That has to be one of the most accurate revelations I’ve heard all year. Gibson was the Anaheim Ducks hero last season, and credit must go where credit is due. These are some of John Gibson’s greatest accomplishments of the 2017-18 season.