One was penned in as a shoe-in for the post season, the other was written off for dead before the first puck drop.
On Friday night, the Anaheim Ducks showed again why most prognosticators we3re wrong.
Ryan Miller made 22 saves to help the Ducks to a 4-2 home win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Adam Henrique continued his hot stretch with his fourth goal in three games.
“We’ve got a group in there that’s all really pulling in the right direction,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said.
The Dycks improved to 6-2-0 and are 4-0-0 at home.
“Rather than just walking in the room and saying, ‘Hey, let’s have a good start,’ (we gave) them some tangible things to look for there,” Eakins said. “Once again they took it to heart and we were able to get what we needed.”
Jakob Silfverberg, Carter Rowney (shorthanded) and Troy Terry also had goals for Anaheim.
“We know we have a strong team and we know we can play this kind of hockey with a lot of speed and a lot of puck management,” Silfverberg said. “Obviously it gives us confidence, but at the same time we need to stay humble.”
Haydn Fleury and Erik Haula scored for the Ducks.
“I think the boys, hopefully, will learn a lesson from that one,” Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal said. “It’s not easy. We’re showing up thinking that it’s just going to be easy. It’s not. It’s a good league and they played well.”
The Canes have lost three straight and dropped to 6-3-0.
“There just wasn’t enough from everyone, including myself. Everyone was just a bit behind. We didn’t really create enough offensively and didn’t feel like we did enough. We didn’t really do anything all that great,” Staal added.
[WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Ducks highlights]
Petr Mrazek got the start and yielded four goals on just 13 shots; he was given the hook early in the middle frame.
“It’s not his fault,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Mrazek. “We left him out to dry. We had a lot of guys sleeping tonight.”
James Reimer, relieved Mrazek and made seven saves for the Hurricanes.
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