Since his arrival in November, Adam Henrique has been turning heads in Anaheim and opening eyes around the league. As a bonafide New Jersey Devils apologist, I was thrilled to see Sami Vatanen headed to the Garden State for Henrique and Joe Blandisi. At the time New Jersey was in need of a top four defender and the Ducks needed bodies to fill out an injury depleted line up.
The deal made sense for both clubs, but I'm not going to lie - I thought the Devils made out like bandits. @5+ games later, the Ducks are the ones grinning from ear to ear.
Vatanen has been good for the Devils, but Henrique has been flat out insane for the Ducks. He did it again last night with two huge goals in Anaheim's 3-1 win in Boston.
The Brantford native has been brilliant since pulling that winged "D" sweater over his head. In the 24 games in Jersey prior to the trade, Rico had four goals, 10 assists and was a minus-4. In the 26 games since the trade, He has nearly tripled his goal scoring with 11 goals, to go along with six assists and a plus-4 rating.
Furthermore, four of the 11 goals are game winners and he seems to be getting better and better with every game. In the last six games the Ducks are 5-1-0 and Henrique has been a big part of that success. The 27-year-old has six goals and eight points during this stretch. That's ridiculous.
If Anaheim does end up qualifying for the playoffs, we will have Henrique to thank for that.
I honestly thought Adam's best days were behind him. He was living in the shadow of the "It's over" goal. It's clear he's stepped out from under that shadow and he's shining as a member of the Anaheim Ducks.
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The Ducks 3-1 regulation win halted Boston’s 18-game point streak (14-04), its longest since 1968-69. With the victory, Anaheim moved into a three-way tie for second in the Pacific Division. The golden state of hockey is back in full effect with the Sharks, Kings and Ducks all tied with 59 points. Los Angeles won last night and the Sharks lost in regulation. This race is only going to get better from here on out.
Anaheim improved to 9-0-1 in its last 10 versus Boston and have won a season-high three games in a row.
It wasn't all good news for the Ducks. John Gibson left with an undisclosed injury for the second consecutive game. Ryan Miller came in and held serve again, helping his team improve to 25-17-9.
As of now Gibson is listed as day-to-day. I'm a bit concerned because its something that keeps popping up and with more regularity now. Thankfully Miller is more than capable of carrying the load until Gibby is 100%.
The latest from Eric Stephens...
Told that John Gibson did not skate today in Ottawa. Being listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Injury isn't Patrice Bergeron's shot that drilled him in the chest area. He'll be evaluated again and Ducks have not made call-up as of yet.
— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) January 31, 2018
Thanks for reading, Steved