ANAHEIM, California: The Anaheim Ducks and Dallas Stars both used goalies who were making their NHL debut. Jack Campbell had plenty of time to prepare mentally for his assignment, while Frederik Andersen had very little advance notice.
Andersen replaced Jonas Hiller at the start of the second period with the Ducks trailing 3-1, stopping all 24 shots he faced while his team-mates rallied for a 6-3 victory yesterday.
“I knew I was going in when we were coming off the ice after the period, so I had 15 minutes to get ready,” said Andersen, who was promoted from Norfolk of the AHL on Friday because of Viktor Fasth’s lower-body injury.
“When you feel good in practice, you don’t have to be nervous at all when you go in. I’m kind of a calm guy, so I didn’t want to do anything differently out there than I usually do in the leagues that I’ve played in. It felt nice to get that first shot, although it took a while. And after that first save, it felt like I got settled in.”
Hiller, who was off to the best start of his seven-year career with a 4-0 record and 1.44 goals-against average, faced 12 shots before he was benched.
“ I think it calmed things down a little bit,” said Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf, who had a goal and three assists. “ I mean, it wasn’t that Hillsy played terrible. He just got a couple of bad bounces, and sometimes you just need that change. Then Freddie came in and swallowed every puck his way and enabled us to get back in that game.” AGENCIES
