Granlund’s Overtime Winner Keeps Ducks Perfect to Start the Season

The Anaheim Ducks spent years waiting for their young core to turn potential into results.

Two games into the new season, those results are beginning to show.

Mikael Granlund scored with 46 seconds remaining in overtime Sunday night, lifting Anaheim to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers and giving the Ducks a 2-0 start to the season. (NHL.com)

Granlund’s winner came on the power play after Florida’s Gustav Forsling was called for tripping Beckett Sennecke. With time running down on the advantage, Leo Carlsson found Granlund near the front of the net, where the veteran redirected the puck past Jacob Markstrom to finish the night at Honda Center. (NHL.com)

It was Granlund’s first goal of the season, but Anaheim’s young stars did much of the work getting the Ducks there.

Cutter Gauthier scored twice on the power play and added an assist, while Carlsson finished with three assists. Lukas Dostal stopped 29 shots in net as Anaheim won its 11th consecutive home opener, extending a franchise record and matching the longest such streak in NHL history. (NHL.com)

Gauthier opened the scoring at 16:18 of the first period before Carter Verhaeghe answered less than a minute later for Florida.

Anaheim regained the lead almost immediately after the second period began. Gauthier finished a quick passing sequence just 47 seconds into the period for his second power-play goal of the night, putting the Ducks ahead 2-1.

That advantage held for nearly 38 minutes.

Then Brad Marchand, making his season debut for Florida, spoiled what appeared to be an Anaheim regulation victory. With Markstrom pulled for the extra attacker, Marchand buried a rebound with 1:50 remaining to tie the game and force overtime. (NHL)

The Ducks could have folded after surrendering the late equalizer.

Instead, they responded.

Granlund’s goal sent Anaheim off the ice with two more points and continued an impressive opening stretch against two teams accustomed to playing meaningful hockey deep into the spring.

A Different Feeling in Anaheim

Starting 2-0 hardly defines an 82-game season, but there is reason for optimism surrounding these Ducks beyond their record.

Anaheim opened the season Friday by building a four-goal lead against the Vegas Golden Knights before holding on for a 4-3 victory. Carlsson had a goal and an assist, Sennecke opened the scoring and Dostal made 27 saves. (NHL)

Two nights later, the Ducks followed it by beating Florida.

That gives Anaheim victories over Vegas and Florida in its first two games, an encouraging early test for a team trying to establish itself as more than an up-and-coming group.

There is also continuity from what Anaheim accomplished last season. The Ducks went 43-33-6 with 92 points, scored their most goals in more than a decade and ended an eight-year playoff drought before advancing to the second round. (NHL)

Now, the next stage of that progression may be beginning.

Carlsson has been right in the middle of it. The 21-year-old has five points through two games, becoming just the third player in Ducks history to record five points over the first two games of a season. (NHL.com)

Gauthier’s performance Sunday offered another reminder of how dangerous Anaheim’s young forward group can become. Coming off a 41-goal breakout season, he produced two goals and three points against Florida and already appears capable of building on that production. (CBS Sports)

Sennecke has also made an early impact, scoring against Vegas and helping create one of Gauthier’s power-play goals against Florida.

Perhaps most encouraging has been Anaheim’s special teams.

All three Ducks goals Sunday came on the power play as Anaheim finished 3-for-4 with the man advantage while killing all four Florida power plays. (Yahoo Sports)

There are still imperfections. Anaheim surrendered three unanswered goals after building a 4-0 advantage against Vegas, then allowed Florida to control stretches of Sunday’s game before Marchand eventually tied it late.

But young teams learn how to win by surviving games like these.

The Ducks have done it twice already.

Anaheim isn’t sneaking up on the league anymore. After returning to the postseason last year, expectations have changed, and the combination of Carlsson, Gauthier, Sennecke and Dostal gives the franchise a young foundation capable of pushing those expectations higher.

Two games won’t tell the story of Anaheim’s season.

But beating Vegas and Florida back-to-back is a strong way to start writing it.