Preview: Columbus Native Sherwood Excited to Play in Hometown

Visits to cities in the Eastern Conference only happen once a season, so when the Ducks' schedule came out this past summer, Kiefer Sherwood didn't get ahead of himself when he saw a mid-December date in Columbus. First off, he needed to make the team. But his philosophy back then was simple. Take each day as it comes.

A few of his goals have already been achieved. He earned a spot on the opening night roster and made his NHL debut on October 3 in San Jose. Sherwood scored his first career NHL goal in his fifth game of the season on October 13 in Dallas, and played against his hometown team - the Columbus Blue Jackets - on November 4 at Honda Center. At the time, he was asked if he was looking ahead to the game tonight at Nationwide Arena. "I need to make sure I'm still on the team first," he said, staying true to his word of not getting ahead of himself. But as the days passed by, Sherwood couldn't help but think about it.
"Any time you play your hometown team or you can go back to where you're from for the first time, it's definitely a goal," he said. "When the day started to get closer, I looked at it and really made it a goal to make sure I could play there and make the most of that opportunity. I tried to take things day by day and take the games as they came. Try to make the most of each game, so special opportunities like this do present themselves."
This is a big night for Sherwood. He says there will be so many friends and family in attendance that a suite won't be big enough to hold them all, so an "overflow" section will be seated elsewhere in the arena. "Columbus is a tight-knit community. Everyone supports each other. One success is everyone's success. It'll be a time for me to show how grateful I am for them. I truly don't take anything for granted."
He says he's seen around 20-30 Blue Jackets games at Nationwide Arena in his lifetime. He was a fan like everyone else, and had visions of someday skating on that ice. "Going to those games, you always dream about one day coming back to the arena that you first started watching NHL hockey," he said. "To be at Nationwide will make it surreal. I'm really looking forward to it."
Sherwood and the Ducks are coming in hot. They begin this five-game road trip with a 7-1-0 mark in their last eight games and have gone 9-2-0 in their last 11. They've also won four straight on the road, tying the NHL's longest active road winning streak and the team's longest since Feb. 13-March 5, 2016 (6-0-0). The Ducks have outscored the opposition 16-4 in the third period and overtime in their last eight games. In fact, each of their last eight wins (since Black Friday) have featured third-period rallies (five times the team trailed in the third, three other occasions the game was tied).
Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf enters tonight's game with four assists/points in his last two games and nine points (2g/7a) in his last seven games. Getzlaf leads the Ducks in points (24), assists (16) and points per game (.96), and ranks tied for third in goals (8). With career points No. 900 and 901 in Anaheim's 6-3 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday, Getzlaf joined Teemu Selanne as the only two players in franchise history to record 900 points in franchise history.
Ondrej Kase, who recorded his first career hat trick on Wednesday, has six points (4g/2a) in his last two games and 14 points (8g/6a) with a +9 rating in his last 12. Brandon Montour also has six points (2g/4a) in his last two games, and on Wednesday became the first NHL defenseman to record four points in the third period in 12 years (Dan Boyle of Tampa Bay, Dec. 23, 2006) and first to notch four points in any period since 2013 (Rostislav Klesla of Phoenix, March 28, 2013).
Tonight's contest wraps up the two-game season series between the Ducks and Blue Jackets. The Ducks earned a 3-2 overtime victory in the first meeting back in November. They enter tonight's game with a 28-21-9 all-time record vs. Columbus, including a 12-12-4 mark at Nationwide Arena. Getzlaf paces active Ducks in career scoring vs. Columbus with 42 points (12g/30a) in 36 games.