Ducks vs. Sharks Pre Season Game 2

Ducks vs. Sharks
Pre-Season Game 2
9/20/18
Score: 3-7

This will be just a quick piece about the Ducks first home pre-season game of the 2018 season. I’ll break it down by talking about the veterans, rookies and goalies and who was noticeably good, or glaringly bad.

The veterans: (Perry, Rakell, Silfverberg, Manson, Lindholm, Kase, Henrique, Rodin)
Overall the veterans looked really good. They were all noticeable on the ice and were the driving force in the game. Here is who stood out to me while watching the game live.

Corey Perry:
Perry played well last night. We looked engaged and fast. He got 3-4 grade A scoring chances that he just couldn’t get past Dell. If this is any indication of the Perry we will get in the regular season then I am not worried.

Ondrej Kase:
Ondrej seems to be in regular season form after scoring 2 goals in his pre-season debut. He was in dangerous areas on the ice and finished the chances he got. He had a breakaway he didn’t finish on but redeemed himself on another chance later in the 2nd period. I was a little worried we would see Kase slump from last year but he still looks good!

Josh Manson:
That “A” looked good on him. Josh looked strong per usual last night. Made sound defensive plays and even assisted on a goal with a pass from behind the goal line, somewhere you don’t usually find a d-man. I recall him making a run at a player for the hit and it drew him out of position a bit but overall a great showing from Manson.

The Rookies: (Steel, Lundeström, Comtois, Street, Fiore, Larsson, Megna, Welinski, Sherwood, Mahura)
While the vets stood out, the rookies did not. I really didn’t see much from a lot of them but here are a few that stood out (yes, they are exactly who you’d expect).

Sam Steel:
Steel did not look out of place with the big boys. He centered Perry and Rakell and looked great with them. He brought great speed to the line and was tenacious on the forecheck. Really excited to see what he can bring with more NHL experience.

Isac Lundeström:
Our most recent first round draft pick is turning some heads this camp. He was center Silfverberg and Comtois and while that line did score a goal it was really only Silfv and Manson doing the work. That being said Lundestrom looked a lot like Steel did out there. Looked comfortable, quick and was stripping pucks off defenders in the offensive zone with ease. Really impressed by him last night.

One rookie that I was very excited to see was Max Comtois. I’ve been really excited about him all camp and in his first pre-season game he was very, un-noticeable. He was placed on a good line but really didn’t do all that much to impress me which was very disappointing. I still think he is a great player and it’s only one game but I was expecting more.

The Goalies: (Miller, Coreau)

Miller:
He stopped the shots he could and looked calm and collected in the net. He did let by 3 goals but one was an unlucky bounce off his stick trying to break up a cross ice pass and the other was a misplayed two on one by the defenseman Megna. He was leaving a lot of rebounds and seemed to have trouble controlling them but that can be expected in your fist real game back. Solid half game for Miller.

Coreau:
Ooooffff. Not a great half the game for him giving up 4 goals on 8 shots. He was faced with a TON of back door chances that the D did not do a good job of blocking so I won’t judge him on that. What I will judge him on is the two goals that he just seemingly whiffed on. He’s obviously going to be in San Diego this season fighting out the starter job down there with Boyle.

Overall what I saw from the Ducks on Thursday night was a team that looked faster than I am used to seeing. The defense collapsed at the end of the game which is why the score was so high but I am optimistic about the change is style of play we were promised. Yes, even from Perry!

LET’S GO DUCKS!