Anaheim, Featured

Anaheim in for a Rude Awakening Soon

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018By Billy Bertrand
Anaheim in for a Rude Awakening Soon

The Anaheim Ducks currently sit on top of the Pacific division with a 4-1-1 record despite underlying numbers that would be more consistent of a team with a 1-4-1 record. Despite the strong start, the Ducks are struggling to create offensively in both the quality and quantity of their shots.

among goalies who played min 200 minutes

As a result, four of their six games have been decided by one goal, including two that were decided via shootout. A lack of quality shots, or even just shots in general, has been offset by a high shooting percentage, but even with that, the Ducks still rank in the bottom 10 in goals for. Luckily, they have John Gibson in net, and he’s been phenomenal so far this year. Gibson has won three of his five starts, with only one regulation loss. Even though he was pulled after giving up four goals in two periods in Dallas, it’s hard to pin that loss on him. Two of the goals came on the powerplay, while the other two came after poor defensive plays. Gibson was replaced by Ryan Miller to start the third period after facing a mind-boggling 44 shots in 40 minutes of play. Playing behind an offense that struggles to create chances, Gibson has to be on his A-game if Anaheim hopes to win on any given night. So far, he’s delivered.

*Among goalies who played min. 200 minutes

*Among goalies with min. 200 minutes played

John Gibson’s sky-high save percentage would match the highest single-season mark in NHL history set by Jacques Plante in 1970-71, so regression is all but guaranteed. The same can be said for the Ducks’ shooting percentage, which currently is higher than the Lightning’s league-high mark of 10.7% last season. Credit where credit is due, the team is winning but there’s a lot of red flags right now that should be cause for concern. The Ducks have also lost a lot of firepower to injury with Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, and Jakob Silfverberg missing time, Corey Perry is out long-term and Ondrej Kase has yet to make his season debut. However, if the current iteration of the team wants to continue winning games, they will need to generate a lot more quality chances and also make life a lot easier on their goalies. If they can’t, a tumble down the standings will come sooner than later.