Following a pregame extravaganza that evening (at what was then known as The Pond) that displayed all the pomp and circumstance of a Disney-owned team, the Mighty Ducks unceremoniously lost to the mightier Detroit Red Wings, 7-2 in the first game in Anaheim's franchise history. Now 25 years to the day later, everything was different about the Ducks other than the throwback white jerseys they wore as a tribute during warmups.
The final score was vividly different too, a 3-2 Anaheim victory in the shootout, a tiebreaker format that didn't even exist in 1993. The hero of the shootout? Troy Terry, the 21-year-old winger born almost four years after the Ducks played their first game, who tonight scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Ducks a dramatic victory in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 17,436.
"There is so much pressure now whenever I jump over the wall to take those," Terry said. "I've kinda gotten to be known for scoring five hole, so I figured I'd try it again. Luckily it worked."
The Ducks had a couple chances to win it in 3-on-3 overtime, but Hampus Lindholm and 18-year-old rookie Isac Lundestrom (making his NHL debut) were each denied on big stops by Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard.
The banged-up Ducks were even more shorthanded as captain Ryan Getzlaf missed the game after getting injured in the third period of Saturday's win in Arizona. He joined prominent Ducks Ryan Kesler, Patrick Eaves and Corey Perry on the shelf, though Getzlaf's timetable to return is unknown.
That turned the spotlight to youngsters like Lundestrom, Sam Steel and Terry, whose heroics in just his fifth career game helped improve the Ducks to 3-0-0 on this young season.
"This is baptism by fire for young players," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "We have our ample share of them in the lineup, but these are situations hopefully where they can grow and get more confidence. Hats off to them. We put them in situations historically they would play in lower levels. This is the best league in the world. They were in there and survived, so hopefully they feel good about themselves."
During the game the Ducks wore their new 25th anniversary adidas jerseys, the first of 15 times this year they will sport the sweaters, which honor the team's heritage with the old Mighty Ducks logo and a color scheme of black, teal and purple.
Wearing those jerseys for the ceremonial puck drop were current Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli, former Disney CEO and Mighty Ducks governor Michael Eisner, original Mighty Ducks goalie Guy Hebert and Sean Hill, who scored the first goal in Ducks history on that October 8 night in '93.
Twenty-five years later, it was another defenseman who got Anaheim's first goal, as Lindholm fired a shot from the left wing that ticked off Detroit center Dylan Larkin's stick and tickled the twine. That tied the game 1-1 almost halfway through the second period, as the Ducks had fallen behind on a Tyler Bertuzzi spin move and goal 11 minutes into the game.
Just four minutes after the Lindholm strike, Darren Helm put the Red Wings back on top by beating John Gibson between the pads.
Jakob Silfverberg brought the crowd back to life with 11:31 left in the game by pouncing on a rebound and forcing it over Howard to tie the game and ultimately send it to OT.
"Our fans here have been terrific," Silfverberg said. "All the times I've been here there has always been something special. They made sure to bring a little extra tonight. They were a huge factor in tonight's game. They made sure to keep us in it. We fed off it."
