Young stars lead the way in clash between California rivals

In a clash between Nor Cal and So Cal, Pacific Division foes, and high overall draft picks, the Anaheim Ducks picked up their first win of the season by defeating the San Jose Sharks 7-6 in overtime. In a game that featured plenty of scoring, a fight, and maddening goaltending from a backup, the young cores of these rebuilding franchises were under the spotlight. How did the young stars fare against each other?

Based upon offensive output alone, the young core of the Ducks absolutely won this battle against the young core of the Sharks. Granted some context must be given, as the Ducks are further along in the rebuild process versus their California rivals and have a good blend of younger players and veterans. But the results speak for themselves; the young core of the Ducks factored in almost all of their goals and directly scored four.

Sennecke scored his second goal in only his second game, on the power play, off of a rebound from a McTavish one-timer tying the game at 2-2.

Gauthier scored his second goal of the game off of a slick redirect from a McTavish shot, to pull the Ducks within one goal in the third period.

And after almost two games worth of great scoring chances with nothing to show for it, Carlsson finally got his first goal of the season with the overtime winner.

The second line continues to roll...

Even with factoring in the disclaimer of early sample size, the Ducks second line of Mctavish, Gauthier, and Sennecke, controlled the pace of play with a CF% of 76 or higher in all situations. The eye test also backs up this data, as evident by the trios' offensive output. In contrast, the Sharks top line of Celebrini, Kurashev, and Smith, only had a CF% of 38% or lower in all situations.

...but others struggle

For the second game in a row, Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville kept the second line together and they rewarded their coach with another game of excellent play. However, the same cannot be said of the Ducks top line. Despite the overtime heroics of Carlsson, Troy Terry was bumped down to the third line to start the third period, with the veteran Alex Killorn taking Terry's place. Backup goaltender Petr Mrazek also struggled mightily in the game, allowing six goals on 23 shots for a .739 SV%. With all due respect to Ryan Reaves, Mrazek cannot allow this goal.

Drew Helleson looked bad on the play, yet Reaves of all skaters should not make a defender look like a turnstile.

Definitely some kinks to work out for the Ducks coaching staff, but promising results nonetheless from the young stars in Anaheim to start the season.