ANAHEIM, Calif. – The cure to a rainy Southern California day and the Pittsburgh Penguins? A double dose of Chris Kreider.
The longtime Ranger blew the roof off of his first non-New York home opener with a pair of power play goals, including the go-ahead marker with 87 seconds remaining to lift the Anaheim Ducks over the visiting Penguins, 4-3, on Tuesday at Honda Center.
Kreider has scored two goals in back-to-back games, with three power play tallies.
Asked if that’s a good way to ingratiate yourself with a new fanbase, Kreider responded succinctly.
“Of course. Yeah. Well, um… Yeah. Yes,” Kreider said with a smile.
The Penguins put the Ducks behind the eight ball by getting in behind the defense on two tipped Ryan Shea shots for goals by Justin Brazeau and former Duck Rickard Rakell.
Anaheim fought back with Kreider’s first power play slam dunk and a one-time blast from Cutter Gauthier off a magnificent Pavel Mintyukov feed. Game was tied 2-2 after the first period.
“Wherever we’ve been in the standings the last few years, I feel like we’ve had kind of a knack for comeback wins,” Troy Terry said. “I’d like to not be in that position so frequently… I think it’s a testament to kind of just the bond that we have in here and the belief within the room.”
Anaheim grabbed its first lead of the season on a rifling point shot by Drew Helleson in the second period, but Sidney Crosby caught the Ducks on a line change for a two-on-one break. Anthony Mantha’s shot deflected off Jacob Trouba’s stick and fluttered over Lukáš Dostál to tie the game, 3-3, into the third period.
Kreider’s dramatics sent the Ducks-record Honda Center crowd home in a frenzy. Lukáš Dostál made 22 saves in the win.
“It was great enthusiasm throughout the game and the building,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “A lot of run and gun. There are some parts that we don’t like to run as much, but I think we’re playing a game that was there. There were things that we could learn… but a lot of positives coming out of these last couple of games.”
Ducks have now won 10 consecutive home openers, tying Toronto and Boston for the longest active streak. Only five teams in league history have hit that mark.
Anaheim (2-1-0) takes its back-to-back wins into the last game of a quick two-game home stint against Carolina on Thursday. Ducks then head out for a seven-game eastern road swing.
Chris Kreider Makes a New Home
For the first time in his NHL career, Kreider walked into a home opener on a different coast, a different colored carpet and a different team. After 13 seasons with the New York Rangers, Kredier is now an Anaheim Duck, and even with all of training camp and preseason games in this building under his belt, it was a different evening at Honda Center.
“Some thing’s the same, some thing’s different,” Kreider said. “I mean, orange carpet as opposed to the blue carpet.”
The Boxford, Massachusetts native was seemingly emotional as he reflected on the privilege he still gets to experience 886 games into his NHL career.
“I think any time that you get to suit up for a home opener in the NHL, it’s an incredible experience, right?” Kreider said. “Can’t take that for granted. Hear your name called, your hometown. If you don’t get goosebumps, I don’t know what to tell you. That’s a really, really cool thing. Home opener is always a good time.”
With four goals in two games and finding himself as the long lost key to open up a traditionally moribund Ducks power play unit, Kreider is a making a new home for himself in Orange County.
Those are three words that would not have been written at any point in the last three-to-five seasons for the Ducks, but with four power play goals in the last two games, Anaheim has found some early success with a new power play coach and netfront presence.
Ducks assistant coach Jay Woodcroft has implemented a system with improved movement and more creative ways to find shooting lanes, and Kreider has become a magnet at the net front with three power play goals.
“He just gives us a sense of confidence and just kind of that anchor at the net,” Terry said. “He wins puck battles. When we had shots, we got more pucks back, because he’s winning them. That goes through all five guys. I just felt like we were determined. We were hardworking first. We won a lot of puck battles and we just kind of played, what he calls it, road hockey.”
According to Natural Stat Trick, Anaheim is fifth in shot-attempt share at five-on-four and seventh in expected goals share at five-on-four.
On Tuesday, the Ducks generated seven shots on six power plays with Kreider’s first goal coming less than a minute into the second power play and his game-winner coming six seconds into the fifth power play. Anaheim’s sixth power play came with 12 seconds left in the game.
“I think tonight was the best it looked just in terms of flowing off each other, interchangeable pieces,” Kreider said. “At least those four guys, I try not to move too much, but they’re just zipping it around and it’s fun to watch, honestly. There’s obviously some things that we continue to build on, every penalty kills substantially different, and it kills it in a different way. So every team poses a different challenge, but those guys did a really good job tonight zipping it around and attacking the net.”
Mason McTavish, Jackson LaCombe earn sweater letters
The era shift for the Anaheim Ducks added another layer in Tuesday’s home opener.
When Ryan Strome went down with an injury prior to the start of the season, it left one of the alternate captain A’s vacant from last season’s roster.
Leo Carlsson stepped up into that slot in the first two road games of the season, with Alex Killorn retaining his “A” from seasons past.
When asked about Carlsson taking over that leadership role at Tuesday’s morning skate, Quenneville hinted that the budding Swedish superstar was not the only member of the Ducks young core that would step into that spot.
“We wanted some of our younger guys to assume some of the responsibility in that area,” Quenneville said. “Tonight, you’ll see a couple more guys wear the ‘A.’ I think that the franchise is at that point where younger guys got to be key guys, and they got to absorb some of the leadership responsibility, and they’re at that stage of their career where you know, that next step is that it’s their team. Let’s go.”
Mason McTavish and Jackson LaCombe got the go against the Penguins, with the white “A” stitched to their orange chests. With McTavish signing his six-year deal and LaCombe inking an eight-year extension during training camp, they are very much two of those “key guys” for the Ducks going forward.
It will be interesting to track where those letters fall once Strome returns or if the rotation continues.
Home Opener Sets Attendance Record
Whether it was the atmosphere of a home opener to kick off a new era of promise and expectations or simply an arena-wide Wild Wing mask giveaway, the people yearned for Ducks hockey in record numbers on Tuesday.
It was an announced standing-room only sellout crowd of 17,622–a franchise record at Honda Center. The previous record was set March 2013 against Chicago with a crowd of 17,610.
“That was the most people I’ve seen in warmups to start,” Terry said. “Just special atmosphere.”