Ducks 2-0

Another power-play goal for the Ducks, with Brady Murray in the box for holding the stick. Chris Kunitz joined a scrum in front of the net and knocked it past LaBarbera. McDonald and Perry get the assists.

Less than five minutes left in the first period. The Kings are flat and the Ducks are flying.

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Ducks 1-0

The poorly taken penalties by the Kings finally hurt them. Andy McDonald whipped a pass into the slot to Corey Perry, who put a quick deke on LaBarbera and tucked the puck past him. It’s a power-play goal with 9:11 left in the first period. Pronger also gets an assist.

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The penalty parade

It’s starting again. The Kings have taken two penalties to the Ducks’ one. The Ducks had a brief 5-on-3 and now are on the power play because of a Nagy high-sticking penalty.

Oddly, David Courtney is doing the PA again today, but he’s following the script usually used by the Ducks’ PA guy. Sounds odd to the ear.

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Today’s lines

Same as yesterday, just flip Thornton for Ivanans. Good energy early on both sides. LaBarbera has been tested a bit early and the Ducks are getting more pressure down low than they did for the first 2 1/2 periods yesterday.

Brown-Kopitar-Cammalleri
Nagy-Handzus-Zeiler
Frolov-Armstrong-Calder
O’Sullivan-Murray-Thornton

Blake-Visnovsky
Stuart-Preissing
Johnson-Modry

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Cammalleri quote

Here’s more praise for Jonathan Bernier, from assistant captain Michael Cammalleri. Cammalleri was asked about Bernier’s performance and how he could relate it to his own first NHL game.

“I think we’re all really excited about the way he played. As a team, to get goaltending like that… Just with talking with a couple of the guys after the game, you kind of recap the game and you discuss what went well, and Armstrong says to me, `How about the goalie?’ That’s the difference. He made saves that could have easily gone in the net. So, a good game by him.

“As far as when you come in, in your first year… I was 20. He’s 19. It was surreal for me. I barely remember those first few games. It was so exciting. It’s a dream come true and I’m sure he’s going through a little bit of the same. After the game, I went over to congratulate him on playing so well and he kind of looked at me like he didn’t know where he was, but he looked pretty comfortable when the game was on, that’s for sure.”

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Assorted quotes…

…from wire-service stories:

Crawford, on Bernier:
“I don’t think you could’ve expected a better game from a 19-year-old goaltender. There was a lot of pressure tonight, and he looked like a really solid, solid goaltender. Not very many pucks bounced off of him, and he made a couple of great saves.”

Bernier, on his game and the delay at the start:
“I wasn’t nervous. I just kept my focus. It was a long time I had to wait. … It’s always good to get the start of the season, especially at my age. I’m pretty happy with what I did tonight.”

Rob Blake, on Bernier:
“It’s pretty amazing. I think it’s a calming effect he has on all of us. The way he plays is very calm, he doesn’t really move too much. The puck just seems to hit him. And that carries over to all of us. If you watch his demeanor around the room, he’s a guy who’s ready to play in the NHL. He’s not a junior kid anymore. … He has been our best goalie, and he showed it tonight.”

Crawford, on tomorrow’s goalie choice:
“With the youth of our team, and the back-to-back settings, we’re going to want to make sure we keep as fresh a lineup as we possibly can and try to get everybody to contribute.”

Cammalleri, on the game:
“I love London. It was good to us tonight. … It felt like a North American hockey crowd. There wasn’t much difference — a couple of waves, like soccer, which was fun to watch”

Blake, on the uniqueness of playing in London:
“I don’t remember taking a boat up a river to get to the game very often. But that was our format tonight.”

Crawford, on the delayed start:
“I think we had a lot of time to look around right at the start when they were trying to get the lights back on. I tried to soak it all in, all the different jerseys in the crowd.”

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, unlike Tim Leiweke, not so happy about playing in London, it seems:
“We made a decision last November, December to participate in this. The players voted and the managers had their chance to say yea or nay and we’re living by that decision.”

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Bernier quotes

Here’s what Jonathan Bernier had to say during a quick postgame TV interview…

“I see the puck well, but I have to give credit to the guys. They played hard and they never gave up and we wanted to have a great start to this season and we did, so it’s great.”

(You didn’t seem to get too rattled by the lighting problem early…)

It’s one of those things that happens, so you just have to keep your focus and that’s what I tried to do.

(What’s the biggest thing, making the adjustment to the NHL?)

For sure, the timing. It took a couple weeks but our defense (does) such a great job so it makes the job easier.

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