Two of the NHL's hottest teams will face off tonight at Honda Center, as the Ducks host the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.
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In addition to wearing their new 30th Anniversary season jerseys, the Ducks will offer in-game discounts and exclusive, limited edition merchandise tonight to members of The Mighty loyalty program. For more information, click here.
Anaheim faces a tough task in hoping to extend the NHL's longest active win streak tonight, as Vegas has not lost a game in regulation yet this season.
The Ducks opened their 2023-24 campaign against the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, falling behind in the final second of the opening period on a spectacular rush goal by Jack Eichel. The Ducks would rally in the third period on a Mason McTavish rebound tally, but it would be too little, too late to mount a comeback on the road.
"They're a mature team, they do a lot of things really well," Ducks coach Greg Cronin said before the season opener. "From their stick positioning to their defensive side and winning puck battles to the length of their defense, they're poised in the d-zone. They play a quad system where everybody has a responsibility within their zones, and they're really good with the timing of when they switch.
"Good goaltending and breakouts, too. They're a Stanley Cup-winning team for a reason."
Since that opening night setback in the desert though, the Ducks have responsed within wins in six of their last nine games, including that five-game run that's seen victories over Columbus, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Arizona.
"I think that's just the standard we have," Troy Terry said. "There have been games this year, especially early on, where I thought we played really good games and we didn't win against high level teams, and then there's been games this year where we maybe haven't had our game, but we found ways to win. So, I think our standard is we know we can play better than that."
That undefeated streak hit five with a thrilling comeback victory over the 'Yotes Wednesday night at Honda Center. After Arizona had taken a 3-2 third-period lead, Leo Carlsson tied the game with his third career NHL goal before Terry sealed the deal in overtime on a 2-on-1 rush with McTavish.
"We know we just had a long east coast trip, and we know we can be better than that, but the maturity of this team is growing," Terry said. "You see it in a win like that, where we maybe didn't have our best game, but we're able to kind of keep them to the outside, and score on our opportunities."
"It's huge for our group," added goaltender Lukas Dostal, who was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for October. "We bounce back always. I think that's the third time or the fourth time that in the third period we just bounced back. It's huge for our young core and we're just gonna build on it."
The good news for the Ducks is they'll now catch Vegas on the second half of a back-to-back after the Golden Knights faced off with another cup contender last night. The bad news for Anaheim is that Vegas performance was nothing short of dominant, a 7-0 thumping of the Colorado Avalanche that pushed the Golden Knights' season-opening point streak to 12 games.
“We're going to take the win and enjoy it,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy told NHL.com's Paul Delos Santos. “Especially Jack [Eichel], he hasn’t finished for a while, So I'm happy for him. Couple of good, solid goals. ‘Stoney’ [scored] short-handed. Obviously, a lot of positives. ‘Karly’ has been good all year, and I like that his wingers were able to help him out there and make some plays.”
The Golden Knights (11-0-1, 23 points) lead the Pacific Division, with a six-point edge on second-place Vancouver.
