The Ducks have hit the road for a two-game, back-to-back road trip, tonight facing off with the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena.
PUCK DROP: 5 P.M. PT | TV: HULU/ESPN+ | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER
Anaheim opens the trip in Nashville looking to build off a strong performance in a 4-1 win over the rival Sharks Sunday at Honda Center, in the finale of a five-game homestand.
With the win, Anaheim's seventh in its last nine games (7-2-0), the Ducks improved to 8-6-0 on the season and now sit fourth in the Pacific Division.
"We keep getting better and better," defenseman Radko Gudas said. "We were going after the two points and we got them. I think it wasd a good game for us after the first period and we just got another two points that were important for us."
Anaheim jumped out to an early 2-1 lead in the victory thanks to another multi-goal performance from Frank Vatrano, who continues to etch his name into the Ducks early-season record books.
Vatrano's 11 goals on the year are tied for the most in Ducks history through 14 games played, alongside Troy Terry (2021-22), Corey Perry (2014-15) Teemu Selanne (1997-98) and Paul Kariya (1995-96). Vatrano now ranks tied for third among NHL leaders in goals.
"My linemates have made it easy," Vatrano said humbly, shifting the praise to Mason McTavish and Ryan Strome. "For me, I'm just trying to put the puck in the net and play hard every single night. Usually, when you play the right way, the goals and the points come. It's early in the season and we've just got to keep building on this."
Vatrano and McTavish, who both scored on the power play in the win over San Jose, each reached the 15-point mark in 14 games, becoming the fourth-fastest part of Ducks teammates to do so over the last 20 seasons (Getzlaf/Perry in 2014-15, Getzlaf/Selanne in 2010-11, Getzlaf/Perry in 2008-09).
"They're having great momentum on the power play and it gets the whole team into a great mood where we feel good about the momentum," Gudas said. "They're great players, so it was nice for them to [score] and it got us going in the third. After that, we just kept coming. We kept playing fast."
Anaheim now heads to the Music City to meet a Nashville team looking to snap a three-game losing skid after conceding a two-goal lead in a 7-5 setback to Arizona on Saturday.
"I think we did a lot of good things in the first and I think we did a lot of good things in the third, but the second period [was] just terrible," longtime Predators forward Filip Forsberg told NHL.com's Robby Stanley. "It's not like it was just average, it was really bad. They came in the back in the game, came back on the scoreboard and that turned out to be the determining factor in the game."
"I did not like our gaps and our attention to detail coming back into our zone wasn't very sharp," first-year head coach Andrwew Brunette added. "But I thought we created enough, played well enough to win the hockey game. When you beat yourself on all of those little things, it's hard to win in this league."
Nashville is tied for seventh in the Central Division with a 5-9-0 record (10 points).
