Oct. 11--Last but not least--or so they hoped--the Ducks became the final NHL team to make its 2015-16 debut. By the time they took to the ice Saturday at the SAP Center for a goaltending festival that turned into a 2-0 victory for the Sharks, several teams had played their third games of the season and others were playing their second game.
"It seems like it's been a long time," Coach Bruce Boudreau said of the wait since Wednesday, when the league launched its season.
It might have seemed especially lengthy for a team that's beginning to regard time as an enemy after three straight seasons of Game 7 playoff eliminations.
"I think everybody felt last season -- and we've talked about this for the last couple of years -- it didn't end the way we wanted it to and the window's starting to close," right wing Corey Perry said after Saturday's morning skate. "We're not getting any younger and it's one of those things where you've got to go out and you've got to prove yourself all over again. And do all the right things again."
They did a lot of things right Saturday night but couldn't get any of their 27 shots past Sharks goaltender Martin Jones, the former Kings backup. Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen excelled, too, stopping 42 shots that included a third-period breakaway by Joe Thornton and a sustained barrage by the Sharks. "Freddie was tremendous. He kept us in the game," defenseman Cam Fowler said of Andersen, who faced 17 shots in the third period alone.
Patrick Marleau scored both goals for San Jose, converting a rebound at 19:21 of the second period and taking a wraparound attempt that glanced off Andersen and between his pads at 15:10 of the third period.
"No excuse, but they had a game in their legs and we were still in preseason mode, I think," Andersen said of the Sharks, who had opened Wednesday with a win over the Kings. "All in all, we played pretty good."
But that might not be good enough to prevail often enough in the Pacific division, where the Sharks and Arizona are 2-0 and Vancouver is 1-0-1.
"We did some good things, especially early," Ducks winger Andrew Cogliano said. "They're a good team. That's as good as you're going to get with sustained pressure, with forechecking, with speed. That was our first game. It's no excuse, but now you have a taste of the level of play you're going to need to have in order to go far."
That level will be high. "The positive is we know how hard we have to work," Boudreau said. "It's a game where they worked from beginning to end and we had spots where we were gliding. And we can't afford to do that."
Not now, when patterns are set for the season. Not at any time, really, if they want to win the Stanley Cup while the window remains open for their current mix of established stars and talented kids.
Perry and center Ryan Getzlaf -- the last holdovers from the Ducks' 2007 Cup team -- turned 30 in May. Ryan Kesler, who made the Ducks deeper and grittier in his first season with them even though he alone couldn't make them triumphant, turned 31 in August. All three have played more than 700 regular-season games plus playoffs and Olympics.
"They're all still young 30s," Boudreau contended. "I'm sure the window doesn't last forever, but at the same we're not thinking ahead. We have weekly goals. Just win the week and do the right things in the process and in the end everything just takes care of itself."
They admitted Saturday they were frustrated by Jones, who recorded his eighth career shutout, but they've got to fight through that. "You're going to run into that every once in a while," Fowler said. "I thought we stuck with it and we were there the whole way. That goal in the third period seemed to deflate our group a little bit. It's tough when you're down two, as opposed to one. He made some great saves, especially off rebounds.
"We had some guys in tight but there comes a time when you've got to start getting more bodies in front of him. I thought he was able to see the majority of the pucks tonight and goalies in this league are going to make the saves. You have to compliment him. He played well."
The line of Jiri Sekac, Rickard Rakell and Perry was the Ducks' most effective, and Boudreau kept the trio together most of the game. "They had the most chances," he said. He mixed things up in the final 10 minutes and reunited Perry and Getzlaf in hopes of creating an offensive spark but the Ducks couldn't get anything past Jones. He said he would reevaluate his line combinations before the Ducks' home opener Monday against Vancouver.
Asked for positives, Fowler acknowledged it was tough to dredge up happy thoughts right away. "We competed. We certainly didn't give up," he said. "I think there's stuff in our D zone that we can clean up but two goals against [by] a good team like that on the road, you give yourself a chance to win, but we just weren't able to solve the goaltender tonight."
