The Anaheim Ducks Proudly Return Home
What a road trip it was for the Anaheim Ducks who are now finally returning home after their last thrilling showdown with the Edmonton Oilers. Not only did they win all four consecutive games away, but also beat some of the toughest franchises in the league
today along with two of the weakest. Competing in one of the strongest divisions (Pacific Division in the Western Conference) in the National Hockey League (NHL), they seem to be rising to the top at the end of the season with fewer than 25 games remaining.
As a team they performed exceptionally well, achieved two shutouts and had some close calls with others.
The Start of the Journey
The Ducks were out of Anaheim after their most recent home game with San Jose, where their expedition started in Colorado against the withered Avalanche which stands 11th in the Western Conference. Corey Perry showed that he truly is worthy of
being called an All-Star, scoring all 3 goals dazzling and shutting out the Avalanche 3-0 at the Pepsi Centre.
Corey Perry wasn’t able to score a hat trick in his past five seasons, but has accomplished the task within a 2-month span.
A Close Call with Vancouver and Calgary
Anaheim might have had it trouble-free with Colorado but the Canucks and Flames aren’t teams that go down easily.
Vancouver, which is leading the NHL and is a major contender in the race for the Stanley Cup glory, surprisingly didn’t play as their usual selves on Wednesday night in the sold out Rogers Arena. The Ducks captured the match early on by making it 3-0 within
the first 25 minutes of show time; also another factor in their favour was the return of their captain Ryan Getzlaf who had returned after six weeks due to nasal sinus fractures. Bobby Ryan scored twice including the winning goal taking the match 4-3 at the
end.
Calgary proved to be the biggest hurdle in the Ducks pathway to their third consecutive victory, Saku Koivu put up double numbers to assist them. The Flames lead 4-3 with less than twelve minutes to go in the final period, but Teemu Selanne took advantage
of the power play, tying the exhilarating game at 17:53 showing on the timer. This gave them another chance in overtime, where rookie Cam Fowler shot it through the defence and into the net with a little over fifteen seconds left in OT winning the match which
could have headed to a shootout, a position which Calgary loves to be in.
"Luckily it went in," the 19-year-old Cam Fowler said after making the silence shattering shot.
Happily Ending
Now this was a happy ending for the Ducks, one of those that you read about in fairy tales, going up against the Edmonton Oilers which are the lowest ranking team in the NHL. Anaheim couldn’t have been more delighted facing them, as it was a chance for them
to take it easy and play for fun. They shut the Oilers out 4-0 by making goal after goal; Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry both put up double figures in goals and assists respectively. It was their 14th win in the last 18 games.
“I think these wins were earned not granted, we played very well these past couple of days,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.
Anaheim will return home now after two weeks of being away were they will face the Washington Capitals. Currently, they show signs of persistence in their performance and stand secure in their position tied for 3rd place with Dallas in the Western
Conference and atop the Pacific Division.
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