Ducks improve to 3-0-0 with victory over Red Wings in home opener
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Rookie Troy Terry scored the only goal in the shootout, John Gibson made 19 saves and the Anaheim Ducks celebrated the home opener of their 25th anniversary season with a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.
Jakob Silfverberg scored the tying goal with 11:31 to play, and Hampus Lindholm also scored as the Ducks improved to 3-0-0. The 21-year-old Terry then scored a shootout goal in his fifth NHL game, and Gibson stopped all three Red Wings shooters.
Tyler Bertuzzi and Darren Helm scored and Jimmy Howard stopped 24 shots for the Red Wings, who are winless in their first three games.
Exactly 25 years to the day after the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim debuted at Honda Center against the Red Wings, the teams met again in the Ducks' home opener. Detroit spoiled the Mighty Ducks' debut on Oct. 8, 1993, with a 7-2 victory.
After starting this season with two road victories despite an injury-depleted roster, Anaheim finally opened its anniversary season at Honda Center, the Ducks' home for their entire existence — and much better known to hockey fans as the Pond.
But captain Ryan Getzlaf, NHL MVP Corey Perry, Selke Trophy winner Ryan Kesler and goal-scoring forwards Patrick Eaves and Ondrej Kase all missed the home opener due to injury, while power forward Nick Ritchie is still a contract holdout. Six rookies were in the Ducks' starting lineup, underlining Anaheim's moves toward the future after last spring's first-round playoff flop.
The healthy Ducks wore the team's 1993 eggplant-and-jade jerseys during pregame warmups, and they played in their new third jerseys using similar colors and the club's original logo with a duck-bill goalie mask and crossed hockey sticks.
The Ducks held a brief pregame ceremony in the first chapter of a season-long celebration of the history of an expansion franchise named after a kids' movie as part of the Walt Disney Company's venture into team sports in the 1990s. Owners Henry and Susan Samueli dropped the ceremonial first puck alongside Michael Eisner, the former Disney chairman who guided the franchise into existence.
After the festivities, Detroit went ahead midway through the first period when an unmarked Bertuzzi got a pass low in the zone and pirouetted to his forehand in the slot. Lindholm evened it midway through the second, rocketing a wrist shot into the top far corner of Howard's net, but Helm put Detroit back in front a few minutes later.
Silfverberg popped home a rebound for his fifth point of the young season after Adam Henrique drove the net midway through the third. Max Comtois got the second assist, giving the 19-year-old rookie three points in his first three NHL games.
NOTES: Isac Lundestrom, an 18-year-old Swedish center, made his NHL debut for the Ducks. He is the third-youngest player and youngest forward to make his debut with Anaheim. ... D Joe Hicketts returned to the Red Wings' lineup after Trevor Daley injured himself in Los Angeles on Sunday night. ... Luminaries attending the game included NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman; goalie Guy Hebert, the first player to join the Mighty Ducks in the expansion draft; and defenseman Sean Hill, who recorded Anaheim's first goal, shot and penalty.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Host Toronto on Thursday.
Ducks: Host Arizona on Wednesday.
___
More AP NHL: www.apnews.com/tag/NHL and www.twitter.com/AP_Sports
