Quack Attack: Ducks Hand Winnipeg Its First Regulation Loss While the Kings Are Still Looking for Win No. 1

If you had "Ducks good, Kings winless" on your October bingo card, congratulations. Please tell us your lottery numbers.

On Friday night in Winnipeg, Anaheim walked into Canada Life Centre and smacked the Jets 5-1, handing Winnipeg its first regulation loss of the season, per the AP. The Ducks are now 3-1-0.

The Kings, meanwhile, are 0-2-1 and still waiting on their first win.

A rookie's first one

Rookie Judd Caulfield opened the scoring with his first career NHL goal and added an assist. Keep that puck forever, kid. Frame it. Put it next to the bed.

Tim Washe and captain Mikael Granlund each had a goal and an assist. Sam Colangelo and Nikita Nesterenko also scored. That's five different goal-scorers, which is the kind of balance coaches dream about and fantasy managers find mildly annoying.

The Granlund dagger

Winnipeg made it interesting for about five minutes. Kyle Connor, playing in his 700th NHL game, got sprung alone on Lukas Dostal by Mark Scheifele and scored his sixth goal of the season to make it 3-1 midway through the third.

Then Granlund, named Anaheim's captain before the season per NHL.com, slammed the door with 5:54 left. Ballgame.

Dostal only had to stop 15 shots, per the AP. Anaheim's skaters basically handed him a lawn chair and a lemonade. Clay Stevenson made 12 saves for Winnipeg, which fell to 3-1-1.

Our take (opinion): this is the win that should make people pay attention. Beating a Jets team that hadn't lost in regulation, on the road, while giving up 16 shots? That's not luck. That's structure. The kids are growing up, and the old guard is driving the bus.

Also, the Ducks switched their team goal song this season to The Offspring's "Coming for You," per Yardbarker. Orange County punk blasting through Honda Center after every goal? Elite. No notes.

Meanwhile, the Kings...

It's been a rough first week in El Segundo.

• Game 1: an 8-4 loss at Colorado.
• Game 2: a 5-4 overtime loss at San Jose, where Igor Chernyshov scored twice, including the OT winner, per NHL.com. The Kings rallied from two goals down in the third to tie it, which counts for something. Just not two points.
• Game 3: a 2-1 home-opener loss to Florida. Alex Laferriere scored for LA, but Matthew Tkachuk had the third-period winner, per NHL.com.

That's 0-2-1 with one standings point. Not a crisis in early October. But it's the kind of start that makes the talk-radio phone lines light up.

Our take (opinion): the Kings' problem isn't effort. They've been in two one-goal games. It's that they keep losing the moments that decide one-goal games. That's fixable. It better be fixed fast, because the schedule doesn't get gentler.

What's next

• Ducks: at Calgary on Saturday night, the second half of a back-to-back.
• Kings: at Vegas on Saturday, Oct. 10 (7 p.m. PT), then home against Edmonton on Tuesday, per ESPN's schedule.

Freeway Faceoff bragging rights aren't decided in October. But right now? Orange County is talking a lot louder than LA.