Ducks winning by committee
Top-of-the-west Ducks? Even I don't believe it.
Anaheim has picked up points in all 12 of its games thus far, winning 7 in regulation and going 2-3 in the shootout. It should be noted that it has been a somewhat soft schedule; 16 of the 21 points thus far have come from opponents who missed the last playoffs.
It of course is a franchise-best start, but I kid you not, it was also a franchise start when the Ducks won their first two games.
But still, check out this scoring balance, which features no forwards among the NHL's top 50 scorers (and includes only one goal off the stick of Teemu Selanne):
Line | G-A-Pts | +/- | PP | SH | GW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Selanne-McDonald-Kunitz | 10-14-24 | +1 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
Perry-Getzlaf-Fedoruk | 7-13-20 | +8 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Shannon-Marchant-Penner | 8-10-18 | +5 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
R.Niedermayer-Pahlsson-Moen | 6-11-17 | +17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
S. Niedermayer-Beauchemin | 5-8-13 | +6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Pronger-O’Donnell | 2-12-14 | +11 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
O’Brien-DiPenta | 1-2-3 | +3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
So far results have been encouraging, but probably the real test for this team will be how it handles games against San Jose and Dallas, which represent more than 20% of Anaheim's remaining schedule. Can the Ducks maintain their outstanding goaltending (1.94 GAA, .934 Sv%), and keep up this scoring balance?
Though not noted in the above table, offseason signing Shawn Thornton got called up from Portland two games ago to replace Boogeyman victim Todd Fedoruk. How long he stays with the big club remains to be seen, but for now at least, the Battle of the Thorntons is officially on, baby.
3 comments:
Earl it may be early but its definitely a nice start.
The balanced scoring is huge.
Bank those points now - I'm thinking #2 and #3 in this division likely will be the fourth and fifth seeds.
I think you'd rather the Avs or Wings first round then the Sharks.
I agree that the Ducks have a franchise best start. However, they have a touhg schedule ahead of them.
With the way the Ducks played last night, I don't see how they will defeat the Sharks or the Stars in the upcoming games. Then again, last night was the third game in four nights, so maybe it was just fatigue.
I'm just glad to see the scoring spread out among the lines... I haven't been terribly impressed with the top line, (save, maybe Kuni), but I still think everyone can step it up another notch or two...
Post a Comment