The Anaheim Ducks allowed the most goals of any team last season but look completely different for this campaign. New head coach Greg Cronin has focused heavily on improving defense-wise, and against the Boston Bruins on Sunday, they gave up just two goals with a goalie in the net for the second night in a row.
It didn’t lead to a win in the tight contest against the Bruins, but they’re looking better and better and actually outshot the Bruins 33-28.
The Bruins won 3-1, and although we didn’t see that many goals, we did see some really heavy and nice hits throughout the game, and to no one’s surprise, Charlie McAvoy and Radko Gudas were at the center of attention.
Charlie McAvoy is one of the biggest hitters in the game, and he laid a big check on Trevor Zegras. Zegras is a wizard with the puck on his stick, but his dekes often make him a target for bigger players. And when Charlie McAvoy saw his opportunity to hit him along the board, he wouldn’t let it slip.
Zegras had just played the puck to a teammate behind the goal as Charlie McAvoy just completely ignored everything else and completely rocked the young forward. Zegras wasn’t quick on getting up from the ice, but it was a clean and great hit from McAvoy.
Later in the game, Radko Gudas responded with two big hip-checks on Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie. This is physical hockey at its very best, and fans on social media loved the hits, especially McAvoy’s on Zegras.
”Anyone else kind of happy? I’m not a Zegras hater, but it’s nice to see a hard hit thrown in a game,” one said.
”McAvoy looks like he was going to follow the puck, then decided to hit Zegras just because he did a fancy move and watched it,” another said.
But many also claimed that McAvoy should’ve been assessed an interference penalty.
”This should be a pretty easy penalty imo, before McAvoy even begins to initiate contact, the puck is gone and on another players stick. The puck is so far gone that the next player has the puck and begins to take it behind the net. That’s not ’finishing the check,’” one said.
”Interference anyone?” Another asked.
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