Ducks vs. Rangers PREVIEW: Anaheim Visits The World's Most Famous Arena

The Anaheim Ducks (1-1-0, 2 points) will play in their 2nd game of a 5-game eastern swing this evening when they square off against the New York Rangers (2-1-0, 4 points) at The World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden. The Ducks will be looking to bounce back from a 7-1 defeat to the New York Islanders this past Saturday. Crash The Pond will address three key questions heading into tonight’s game that bear close watching for Ducks fans.

1. How will the Ducks’ forward lines be constructed?

Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins has not been shy about making changes to the team’s forward lines both in-game and between games to start the season. During the 3rd period of their loss to the Islanders, Eakins shuffled his top 6 forward grouping and paired center Trevor Zegras with winger Troy Terry, a duo that Ducks fans have been itching to see for quite some together. The line of Henrique-Zegras-Terry played extremely well together, posting an xGF% of 86% (according to MoneyPuck). While a sample size of one period is far too small to draw any definitive conclusions, the excellent performance of Zegras and Terry on the same line does raise the question as to whether or not Eakins will go back to this line combination for tonight’s game against the Rangers.

Additionally, one of the primary reasons Anaheim struggled against the Islanders was due to the horrific performance of their 4th forward line of Max Jones - Derek Grant - Jakob Silfverberg. According to Natural Stat Trick, the 4th line of Jones-Grant-Silfverberg posted a dismal 9% and 0% CF% and xGF%, respectively.

If Eakins sticks with this 4th forward line during tonight’s game, it must perform better for the Ducks to be competitive.

2. Can John Gibson bounce back?

Another major reason the Ducks struggled against the Islanders was the poor play of goaltender John Gibson. According to Evolving Hockey, Gibson’s GSAx at 5v5 was -2.96, meaning he allowed more than double the amount of goals that were expected (5 GA vs. 2.04 xGA). For all situations, Gibson’s GSAx was slightly less poor, improving to -2.23, but still well below the lofty expectations that the team has for Gibson in net. Assuming that he gets the start this evening against the Rangers (and that backup Anthony Stolarz plays tomorrow night in New Jersey), the Ducks must see improved play from Gibson to have a reasonable chance against the high-powered Rangers offense.

3. Will Troy Terry continue his #VeryGood start?

Ducks winger Troy Terry has shown no signs of slowing down from his breakout 2021-2022 campaign to start this season. Through the first two games of this season, he already leads the team in goals and points (3 and 4, respectively) and has looked characteristically dangerous in the offensive zone. Another productive night from Terry would greatly buoy Anaheim’s chances as they continue their 5-game eastern road trip this evening.

Evolving Hockey Matchup Preview

According to Evolving Hockey's Game Projection Tool, the Ducks have a 41% chance of defeating the Rangers tonight.

Game projection from evolving-hockey.com

With the 2nd half of a back-to-back looming tomorrow night against the Devils, and given the Ducks’ poor performance against the Islanders, tonight’s game against the Rangers takes on added importance as Anaheim traverses their 5-game eastern swing at the start of their season.