The Anaheim Ducks missed the playoffs last season for the first time in seven years. Unlike the New York Rangers they are not in full rebuild mode, preferring to do it on the fly. Will it work?
There are similarities between the New York Rangers and the Anaheim Ducks. In a tough Pacific Division, they were a playoff powerhouse making it to the Conference Finals twice. They boasted one of the best defenses in the NHL and a core group of veteran forwards. Last season it all went south.
The Anaheim season was the direct opposite of the St. Louis Blues’ season. They woke up on the morning of December 18 tied for second place in the Pacific Division with a record of 19-11-5 and 43 points, seventh most in the NHL. That’s when they went into a nosedive.
The finished with a 35-37-10 record good for 80 points, 10 points out of the last wild card position. The Rangers actually jump started the Ducks collapse with a 3-1 win at the Garden. It was the first game of a 12 game losing streak and a stretch when they lost 19 out of 21 games.
So, the Ducks went 16-26-5 the last half of the season, giving up on coach Randy Carlyle who was fired on February 10. General Manager Bob Murray took over as interim coach and led the team to a winning record raising hopes for this season.
To describe the Ducks offense as pathetic would be entirely accurate. They scored 199 goals, the only team in the NHL to not top the 200 goal mark. Their only saving grace was that they allowed 251 goals, 18th best in the league and due in great part to the efforts of goalie John Gibson. The Ducks took the fewest shots per game (27.7) and allowed the seventh most per game (33.2).
The Ducks finished in the bottom third of the NHL on the power play and the penalty kill. They did have the seventh best faceoff winning percentage.
The Ducks have one of the best salary cap situations in the league, going into the season with over $9 million in cap space.
The issue for the Ducks is whether they are the team that started and finished the season or the club that was an absolute disaster for two months. Considering the lack of player movement over the summer, they obviously believe that they are the former and will rely on new coach Dallas Eakins to get the team back into the playoffs.
Against the Rangers
The Rangers won both games against the Ducks with Alexandar Georgiev in net for both. In their first match in Anaheim, the Rangers blew a 2-1 lead, allowing a Rickard Rakell goal with 26 seconds left in the game and the Ducks goalie pulled. It was one of Brett Howden‘s best efforts of the young season as he had a goal and an assist. After a scoreless overtime, the teams went to a shootout and the Rangers won on goals by Mats Zuccarello and Mika Zibanejad while Georgiev stopped both Anaheim shots.
The second game was the 3-1 win on December 18. It was a thrilling win for the Blueshirts as Kevin Hayes scored a shorthanded goal with 40 seconds left in the game to put the Rangers up 2-1. Filip Chytil added an empty net goal 21 second later to seal the win.
The Rangers have owned Anaheim recently, winning eight out of their last 10 contests since the 2014-15 season.