Ducks' Anderson beats Coyotes, becomes fastest goalie to 50 wins in 71 years
The last time Frederik Andersen played, he played for Anaheim Ducks of old.
Tuesday night, the Ducks of new featured two new faces, one of whom has only played two games in the system. It was the result of only half of the trades Anaheim made before Monday's deadline. The day featured four deals in total.
But Andersen competes regardless of who is in front of him, and the Ducks defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 at Gila River Arena, giving Andersen his 50th win of the season.
He became fastest goaltender to reach 50 wins in 71 years.
"It started with him," Ducks' coach Bruce Boudreau said. "He gave you that confidence that nothing was going to get by him and it really didn't, so that's a really positive sign."
Andersen returned to stop 29 of 30 shots he faced after sitting out the last 10 games with a neck injury. The Ducks' No. 1 goalie backed up John Gibson in the last two outings, both wins. The plan was always to start him in Arizona, but he sat on the bench for the last two outings to get a better feel for the game flow and to allow him to track the puck at ice level, instead of from the pressbox.
A game that could have turned chaotic with so many new players on both teams, did not as Andersen exuded calm in the net.
"He doesn't stress himself up," said winger Jakob Silfverberg. "He made a few big saves for us tonight and that's we need. Looking forward, it's good to have him playing at the top of his game."
His demeanor spread to the guys in front of him, who came together to play like a new team.
"I thought all the new guys handled themselves really well and it's almost a different kind of team that we've got with all the speed," Boudreau said. "It's going to be interesting to see if we change systems up because it's a different kind of group. I thought they played well."
New defenseman Simon Despres had an assist, five hits and was a plus-3 in his first game with Anaheim. His new defense partner, Cam Fowler, had similar numbers. Tomas Fleischmann, also playing his first game as a Duck, assisted on Jakob Silfverberg's circus-shot goal in the third period.
It's a small sample size against a rebuilding team, but both the numbers and the intangibles trended up.
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"I think we had a pretty good connection, it's just about communicating a lot," Andersen said. "I think we did that a lot to try and help each other out and make it easier for each other. It's going to be one of the key things moving forward from now on. Going into the playoffs we need better communication and that was a good step in the right direction."
The Ducks will play Wednesday night's game against Montreal and utilize the same lines and defense pairings used in Arizona, as James Wisniewski and Korbinian Holzer are still nursing injuries. With 89 points, they will go in to the game against the leaders of the Eastern Conference as the co-leaders of the Western Conference.
Whatever message it was that general manager Bob Murray wanted to send to his team at the trade deadline clearly was received in Arizona. A win against the Habs on Wendesday night might communicate that message to the entire league.
And after that? Well, the Ducks would prefer to get the other two players acclimated with what is a fast evolving system before anyone starts booking trips to Nashville or Chicago.
"I try not to let myself think too far ahead. I've done that in the past and it's come back to bite me in the butt," Boudreau said. "You take today and it was good against a team that was struggling. We'll see the same group in all likelihood tomorrow against a really good team -- the best team in the east right now -- and that will be a really good measuring stick and a better test for us."
