Coyotes at Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks were the standard bearers in the Pacific the past few years, winning five consecutive division titles and finishing second once before imploding in 2018-19. After stumbling to a sixth-place finish in the Pacific, the Ducks hope to rebound under new coach Dallas Eakins when they host the up-and-coming Arizona Coyotes in Thursday night's season opener.
Anaheim was ravaged by injuries last season and endured a brutal stretch in which it won only twice in 21 games, so the players are eager to turn the page. "We're excited right now. Every year is different," captain Ryan Getzlaf told reporters Wednesday. "We're going into this year expecting to compete. We're looking forward to getting going tomorrow night." While the Ducks were unraveling last season, Arizona went from last in the West in 2017-18 to finishing four points out of a playoff spot, leading to lofty aspirations after acquiring forward Phil Kessel in the offseason. “The ceiling, the way the team has been built, is we’re trying to win a championship,” general manager John Chayka said. “We will need a lot of young players to take huge leaps to make that possible.”
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Arizona, FS Arizona-Plus, Prime Ticket (Anaheim)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (2018-19: 39-35-8, 4TH IN PACIFIC): Arizona finished 28th in the league with 213 goals but upgraded the offense by bringing in Kessel, a six-time 30-goal scorer who also amassed a career-best 55 assists with Pittsburgh last season. Carl Soderberg, a 23-goal scorer with Colorado last season, also will bring a much-needed infusion of offense for a team that featured Clayton Keller as the leading scorer with 47 points, although he was among 11 players with double-digit tallies. Darcy Kuemper was superb in the second half last season, going 22-9-6 with a 2.05 goals-against average, and was rewarded with a two-year contract extension on Wednesday.
ABOUT THE DUCKS (2018-19: 35-37-10, 6TH IN PACIFIC): Getzlaf produced the lowest point total (48) since his rookie campaign in 2005-06, partly due to missing 15 games, but he still was the leading scorer for Anaheim, which was dead last in the NHL with 199 goals. The Ducks do have skilled offensive players -- Jakob Silfverberg had a team-high 24 goals, Rickard Rakell collected a combined 67 tallies in back-to-back seasons before dipping to 18 in 2018-19 and Ondrej Kase scored 20 in 2017-18 before injuries limited him to 30 games last season. John Gibson had the highest goals-against average (2.84) of his career but won eight of his last nine starts.
OVERTIME
1. Arizona sent G Antti Raanta to Tucson (AHL) for a conditioning stint and recalled G Adin Hill.
2. Gibson was 1-0-2 with seven goals allowed in three starts versus the Coyotes last season.
3. Kessel scored 12 power-play goals in each of the past two seasons.