The Anaheim Ducks returned home following a season-long six-game road trip to face the Florida Panthers on the second leg of a home-and-home series against the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
Game #47: Ducks vs. Panthers Gameday Preview
The Ducks went 1-4-1 on their road trip, concluding with a 3-0 loss to Florida on Saturday.
This was Florida’s first game of a back-to-back and they will play the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday in LA.
Trevor Zegras returned to the Ducks lineup after missing 22 games with a torn meniscus in his right knee suffered on Dec. 4. He slotted in on the wing opposite Alex Killorn and next to Leo Carlsson.
With Zegras returning, Mason McTavish was reunited with Robby Fabbri and Cutter Gauthier.
Lukas Dostal got the start for the Ducks in this game and stopped 24 of 29 shots.
Sergei Bobrovsky was between the pipes for Florida and saved 28 of the 30 shots he faced.
“We’ve gotta find ways to keep battling,” Cronin said after the game. “You gotta keep battling, it doesn’t matter what the score is. They got two quick goals (in the third period) and I think that just took some steam out of us.”
Here are my notes from this game:
Cycle: One of the more positive takeaways from this game was the emphasis on off and on-puck player movement throughout the offensive zone. There were two shifts in the middle of the second period, specifically, where the Ducks worked pucks along the perimeter, on the walls, and at the top of the zone, weaving and switching to open shooting and passing lanes.
“Ideally, that’s the way you want to play,” Cronin said. “That’s the way you build confidence out of those possessions. We had some opportunities within those cycles and maybe we should have shot a few more, right?”
F3s were consistently jumping to open ice at the point when pucks were moved low to high to draw defenders from the net front. Those wrinkles didn’t lead to any goals, but they led to a decrease in offensive zone time for the Panthers, and against less polished defensive teams, will likely result in positive outcomes on the scoresheet.
Trevor Zegras: Upon his return to the lineup, Zegras immediately became the Duck’s most impactful offensive weapon. The vision, deception, and misinformation he displays every time the puck is on his stick is unparalleled and he draws the attention of opposing defenders.
“Just little stuff. You give a team like that an inch and they’re going to put it in the back of your net,” Zegras said after the game. “I feel like we were a little sloppy in our end getting to our spots and positions.”
The Ducks seem set on keeping him on the wing and if that’s the case, he’ll have to manufacture ways to transport pucks through the neutral zone by curling low in support of defensemen on regroups similar to how players like Troy Terry, Kirill Kaprizov, and Artemi Panarin do.
Radko Gudas: This was one of Gudas’ most positively impactful games in recent memory in terms of his decision-making with the puck on his stick. He was credited with four shots on goal, but for the most part, they were calculated and purposeful. More often than not, he looked to move pucks to his partner along the blueline in the offensive zone or down the wall to supporting forwards instead of funneling every puck to the net.
Defensively, he found himself wildly out of position on one occasion where he attempted to throw an open-ice hit on Sam Bennett in the third period. Aside from that, he was disciplined in his lanes and managed his gap well enough to not get burned in transition.
Jacob Trouba: Trouba’s nonchalance in his end contributed to the Panthers’ third goal where he misread the opposing forecheck, turned the puck over to the F2, and screened Dostal on the ensuing shot from Carter Verhaeghe.
Typically puck retrievals and his effort in front of the net are strengths, but both aspects were costly on that particular play.
The Ducks will next host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday at Honda Center.
