Photo Courtesy Of The Orange County Register
Videos Courtesy Of NHL and First NHL Goal on Youtube.com
In a lost season where not much matters there is always one thing you can look forward to, first NHL goals. Thanks to another injury plagued season and a sub-par team performance for 3 months of said season, we got to see a ton of our team’s very talented rookies and even better, got to see some of them score their first NHL goals. So out of excitement for what we have to look forward to, I am going to discuss and rank each rookie’s first NHL goal. The scoring is based on timeliness (how important was the goal), skill (how much skill did the goal take) and celebration (was it a sick celly?). Hope you all enjoy re-living these awesome moments from the 2018-2019 Anaheim Ducks season.
Max Jones
I think this was the goal we all waited the longest for. After Jones was recalled late in the season, he showed he belonged in the NHL. Jones was doing all the little things right, except for finding the back of the net. His time finally came in the dying seconds of a 7-2 blow out over the Montreal Canadiens where he single handedly brought the puck up ice, weaved around the defenders and beat Carry Price to make it an 8-2 Ducks victory. The Corey Perry style goal celebration of just pure relief really puts the icing on this one.
- Timeliness: 6/10
- Skill: 11/10
- Celly: 10/10
- Total: 27/30
Max Comtois
Scoring in your first NHL game would have been impressive enough but for it to be on his first shift, against the sharks, oh my, it doesn’t get much better than this one. On the opening shift of the game a sloppy pass out of the Sharks zone to center ice gets broken up and the poked free up to Comtois from Henrique. Comtois burns past the D and beats Martin Jones 5-hole to start the season off on a high note. Too bad it would only go down from here… Anyways, a very nice goal from max and a nice celly to boot. Love it.
- Timeliness: 10/10
- Skill: 8/10
- Celly: 8/10
- Total: 26/30
Kiefer Sherwood
The biggest surprise of the pre-season had to be Kiefer Sherwood. I mean, I hadn’t heard of him before this season to be honest but damn did he impress. Kiefer made the roster to start the season and stayed with the big club for the better half of the season due to his relentless forecheck, great defensive play and the ability to put in a timely goal when needed. His first comes off a point shot that he re-directs past ex-duck Khudobin to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead. As always Sherwood delivers an extremely enthusiastic celebration for his first NHL goal.
- Timeliness: 9/10
- Skill: 8/10
- Celly: 9/10
- Total: 26/30
Sam Steel
I don’t know if there was any rookie fans were more excited about than Sam Steel. The Junior Hockey phenom looked ready to make his NHL debut after a very strong camp and he was rewarded with a roster spot to start the season. The goal came on 10/21/18 against the Buffalo Sabres in the first period of the game at Honda Center. Steel positioned himself well in front of Carter Hutton and got the deflection off a Brandon Montour shot to put the Ducks up 1-0. The kid was pumped and gave a nice one knee fist pump and a huge smile as he was met for the #HockeyHugs.
- Timeliness: 9/10
- Skill: 8/10
- Celly: 8/10
- Total: 25/30
Andy Welinski
Welinski had been our San Diego call up seemingly any time a regular D-man would get hurt. He found very limited offensive success early on this season, only getting 3 assists before this goal in 23 games. But early in the first period against the future pacific division champion Calgary Flames Welinski would find a juicy puck coming out to him near the blue line. Welinski, assumingly licking his lips at the opportunity, winds and smashed a one-time slap shot past Mike Smith to give the Ducks an early 1-0 nothing lead. Would have love to have had a radar gun on that one as he absolutely wired it. Both arms in the air celly once he realized it went in.
- Timeliness: 7/10
- Skill: 9/10
- Celly: 7/10
- Total: 23/10
Troy Terry
After a 12-game losing streak the Ducks decided to call up one Troy Terry from San Diego. Terry originally got sent down to the Gulls after a couple (unsuccessful) weeks with the big club to start the season which saw him generate little to no offense. He was tearing it up in San Diego at the time of his call up and it only took him two games to finally find the back of the net for his first NHL goal. On the powerplay in New Jersey he rips home a wrister from the face-off circle to break up a 1-1 tie early in the first period. Celebrated like a he had done that a million times, which I can appreciate, but I always want the big time celly for a first NHL goal. Also, minus points to Ahlers for screwing up the goal call.
- Timeliness: 8/10
- Skill: 9/10
- Celly: 6/10
- Total: 23/30
Jaycob Megna
The big defensemen and San Diego Gulls captain was brought up in early February, assumingly for GMBM to take a look at him against NHL competition. On March 6th at Honda Center against the St. Louis Blues he broke a 2-2 tie in the 2nd period with a point shot that found its way through all sorts of traffic in front and beat Binnington. Not much to write home about on the celebration. Simple stick raise, but what do you expect from a 26-year-old rookie playing in a late season NHL game with a team already out of playoff contention.
- Timeliness: 8/10
- Skill: 7/10
- Celly: 6/10
- Total: 21/30
Extra: Ben Street
While not a rookie this season, Ben Street also found his first NHL goal for Ducks in early October. Late in the second period in home game against the Arizona Coyotes, Ben Street collected along outlet pass, burned past the defenders and beat Anti Raanta high, short side, to tie the game at 2. Quick little fist pump to celebrate, not bad for a then 31-year-old getting his first in the show.
- Timeliness: 8/10
- Skill: 9/10
- Celly: 7/10
- Total: 24/30
The Ducks Fan Report 
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