Gibson front and center as shots keep coming
Often, it all starts and ends with John Gibson.
Gibson, who on Friday in Calgary became the Ducks’ all-time saves leader, has faced more shots (1,680) and made more saves (1,518) than any goaltender in the NHL this season.
Second is Nashville’s Juuse Saros, who has faced 1,583 shots and made 1,452 stops, heading into Saturday’s action. The Predators, incidentally, are the Ducks’ opponent today at Honda Center.
Against the Flames, Gibson was dialed in and his best moment came when he robbed forward Tyler Toffoli with a terrific glove save in the third period.
But the supporting cast against the Flames in the Ducks’ 3-1 win should not go without some notice. Anaheim 22 blocked shots to Calgary’s nine and recently acquired defenseman Scott Harrington recorded a game-high seven.
“That core of D are all straight-line defensemen — I guess Cam (Fowler) is a little bit different — but that other group are straight line,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said Saturday. “They’re going to try to block shots. They’re going to try to keep things simple.”
Harrington was claimed off waivers by the Ducks from New Jersey on Feb. 28, days after he was traded to the Devils from the Sharks in the Timo Meier deal. He played a season-high 20:17 against the Flames, and is a plus-one with one assist in five games and has been on the top defense pair with Fowler.
“It’s never easy joining a team like that — he’s come in and is doing a great job,” Eakins said. “He’s playing his off side and is getting some heavier matchups as well. When you see that — blocked shots — it really shows the care of the team as well and commitment to playing the game the right way.”
The effort was an example of what Eakins called “the quiet development” of a team.
“Those players last night, they managed the game so well,” Eakins said. “Right from the start, we knew they were going to be desperate and we knew the game was going to have a different flavor than from playing Washington or Montreal or Chicago.”
The Ducks are 5-2-3 in their past 10 games and 2-1-1 since the trade deadline, in which they moved out two of their top six defensemen, John Klingberg (to Minnesota) and Dmitry Kulikov (to Pittsburgh). It’s a small sample size but the changes haven’t adversely affected the Ducks.