Surging Anaheim Ducks Win 9th Straight, Move Into 1st Place Tie in Pacific Division

The race in the NHL’s Pacific Division is getting interesting. The Anaheim Ducks, the hottest team in the league at this time, beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in a shootout March 2nd in Anaheim. It was Anaheim’s ninth straight victory, and propelled the Ducks (35-19-8, 74 points) into a first place tie with the Los Angeles Kings. The Ducks’ eighth win in this sequence was on February 28th, a 4-2 victory over the Kings in Anaheim. The Kings will host the Ducks on March 5th, with Anaheim shooting for a franchise record tying 10th straight win.

It’s been quite a turnaround for Anaheim this season. The Ducks started out with a 1-7-2 record in October. After a loss to the Detroit Red Wings on January 10th, the Ducks were 17-17-7, but things started to come together after that, with a nice streak of eight wins in their next nine games. They had just one regulation and one shootout loss in February.

Anaheim is not a big scoring team, averaging just 2.5 goals per game, 23rd in the league. Corey Perry is the team leader with 27 goals and is the only Duck in the leagues’ top 40 in goals scored. But while they don’t put up big numbers on offense, they shut down the opposition even better. Goalie John Gibson has a 2.09 goals against average, second best in the league, and the team itself is allowing just 2.3 goals per game, fourth best in the NHL.