Ducks Dynasty

[kinsmen7]

New Ducks debut, Anaheim takes season opener 3-1

Gibson solid in season opener against Vegas

Anaheim 3 @ Vegas 1

The defending Champion Anaheim Ducks kicked off their season opening six game road trip by squeaking past the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1.

Vegas, who blew a 3-1 series lead in last years Western Conference Semi Finals against the Calgary Flames, were on the attack early and often, but a strong Ducks penalty kill, and exceptional goaltending by Conn Smythe winner John Gibson kept them at bay.

Gibson, coming off a historic playoff run for the Ducks, stopped 28 of 29 shots for Anaheim.

Ducks rookie Mason MacTavish scored the first two goals of his career in the first period to kick off the season.

In the second, Knights Captain Mark Stone scored a second chance goal from behind Gibson, where he was standing in the crease, and despite multiple objections from the Ducks bench, the goal was allowed.

In the 3rd, the Knights had three straight powerplays which was when Gibson really shined. Vegas, who boasted the leagues 3rd best powerplay last season, went 0-6 to start the season, with the Ducks only seeing a total of 7 seconds on the powerplay the entire night.

With less than a minute left, and Vegas pressing, Troy Terry went through Vegas defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, stealing the puck and sealing the game with an empty net goal.

Up next: Anaheim's 6 game roadtrip to start the season continues with back to back games against Pittsburgh, which will be Letang's return home, and the Florida Panthers.

[johnstone1987]

Caught up. Great job getting the Cup over Washington and I like the moves of getting Letang.

[kinsmen7]

Quote: Originally Posted by johnstone1987

Caught up. Great job getting the Cup over Washington and I like the moves of getting Letang.

Thanks...it was quite the ride. John Gibson made it look a lot easier than it actually was. I've always hated the goaltending in the NHL series, but with the right sliders I got to see some great goaltending performances at both ends of the ice.

I picked up NBA 2k22 the other day, so I'll be splitting time with this one and an expansion one over there, but I'm pretty happy with the Ducks squad I've got on the ice now, and am excited to get deep into the actual build.

[johnstone1987]

Yeah in mine NHL 19 Martin Jones has 8 Shutouts and with the sliders he's allowing anywhere between 1 Goal to 4. But then again he was always inconsistent lol