Ducks Eye Explosive Home Opener After Road Trip Split

The 2024-25 season for the Anaheim Ducks is officially underway, and it has gone just about how most of us expected: they’d play the rebuilding San Jose Sharks competitively, and then struggle against the elite Vegas Golden Knights on the tail end of a back-to-back. The result? An opening weekend split that included a shutout win and goals from three different sources, but also some signs that indicate the campaign will have its ups and downs. 

Tonight (Oct. 16) is their home opener, where the Ducks have historically found plenty of success, including last year’s 6-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Frank Vatrano scored a hat trick, Pavel Mintyukov netted the first goal of his career, and the Honda Center crowd was set ablaze by the energy exhibited by the Ducks’ new-look lineup. Other than the debut of brand-new uniforms, what does tonight have in store for us? Let’s look at opening weekend themes and storylines as we preview their home-opening tilt against the Utah Hockey Club. 

Goaltending Looks Strong Early

Due to the injury to John Gibson, the Ducks began the campaign with a new and unexpected goaltending tandem that includes Lukáš Dostál and waiver-wire acquisition veteran James Reimer. Both performed admirably in their appearances, with the former delivering a 30-save shutout, while the latter gave a solid 29-save effort that kept the Ducks within striking distance for most of the game against a Golden Knights team that scored at will (12 goals) in their first two games. As a young team in the second night of a back-to-back and icing their backup goaltender, holding the Golden Knights’ high-flying attack to two goals through the first 54 minutes of the game is a win in itself. 

More of the same will be needed from Dostál, Reimer, Gibson (when he returns), and anyone else who mans the crease in Anaheim for the Ducks to have success this season. The position has always been a strong point for the franchise, and it will need to continue to be while this young roster finds its groove. Expect the young Dostál to start tonight in the opener and demonstrate once again that he has the ability to be a leading man in net, healthy Gibson or not. 

Top Line Needs to Get Going 

Something noticeable about the first two games? The lack of production from the Ducks’ top forward line, a trio that currently includes Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, and Alex Killorn. On paper, the line is talented and diverse in the ways it can be effective. Through two games, they’ve been relatively quiet. All three have logged shots on net, but they are pointless. Understandably, they will need some time to settle in and there are numerous reasons why it might take a while. For starters, Gauthier is three games into his NHL career. So far, he certainly belongs at this level, and it’s only a matter of time before he nets his first career goal. He is the new addition to the trio, while Carlsson and Killorn have experience playing together from the previous campaign. Carlsson himself is hardly 60 games into his NHL career, and Killorn, as the veteran of the trio, has the responsibility to make sure the other two are set up for success on the ice. That means retrieving pucks, battling in the corners, and occupying defenders so the other two have space to make plays. 

Forward lines don’t click overnight, but it can’t take too long for this trio — not to mention a few other Ducks forwards — to start producing or else the Ducks will get off to a slow start that will be difficult to recover from. To date, Troy Terry is the only top-six forward to produce a non-empty net goal for the Ducks. He did so in typical Terry fashion with a perfectly placed wrist shot on a breakaway in the loss to the Golden Knights. Carlsson, Gauthier, and Killorn jumped all over the Utah Hockey Club in their Oct. 2 preseason victory; let’s see if they can do the same tonight. 

Power Play Needs a Score

Speaking of very early-season needs for this team, how about a conversion about the man advantage? They have yet to convert on a power-play opportunity in six tries. It’s unfair to jump all over a team when they’ve only played two games, but improved performance on special teams, especially on the power play, was perhaps the most glaring before-the-season need for the Ducks.