The Hockey News’ Derek Lee reports from the Anaheim Ducks’ morning skate.
The Ducks will face a team playing their second game of a back-to-back (SEGABABA) for the second consecutive game as the Vegas Golden Knights come into town for the third matchup of the season between these two teams.
The Golden Knights have taken the first two games of the season series by scores of 3-1 and 3-2. Errors in their own zone plagued the Ducks in both of those defeats. Cleaning up these mistakes will help minimize easy scoring chances against.
"When you play a team like that, you've got to limit the mistakes," Ducks forward Ryan Strome said. "In both games, a crucial play, penalty or untimely goal hurt us. For us, it's 'Can we put together a full 60-minute game'? Because that's what it takes against these good teams.
"We've been playing well lately, but it's going to take a great effort and great focus for 60 minutes to get the win. They're on a back-to-back, so hopefully, we can jump on them early and try to use our legs and some of our youth to skate them tonight and keep playing the way we've been playing. We're doing a lot of good things lately, so we've just got to keep it going."
"Their primary goal is to keep you to the outside," Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said. "They're really stout in defending the front of their net. They've got big, long defensemen and they do a really good job of policing the netfront and taking away those third-circle chances. Their ability to manage the shots against in their defensive zone is impressive."
Vegas is still without Mark Stone, who missed the second game of the season series due to a lower-body injury. They will also likely be without defensemen Ben Hutton and Zach Whitecloud. Both are out with upper-body injuries.
Leo Carlsson (upper-body), who was named to Team Sweden's 4 Nations Face-Off roster this morning, is still day-to-day and will not play tonight. He is currently skating on his own and not yet participating in practice.
After missing 11 games with an upper-body injury, defenseman Cam Fowler will make his return to the lineup. He will draw in for Pavel Mintyukov, who will be a healthy scratch.
"For the last few years, this has been probably the most significant thing," Fowler said. "It's difficult when you're going through an injury, but it allowed me to kind of take a step back and realize how much I enjoy the game and I miss the game when I'm not able to play. I have a lot of enthusiasm and I'm really looking forward to getting back in the lineup."
Because Adin Hill started last night against the Edmonton Oilers, expect Ilya Samsonov to face the Ducks tonight for the second time this season. Samsonov stopped 22 of 23 shots against the Ducks in the two teams’ first matchup of the season on Oct. 13.
Ducks Projected Lines
Trevor Zegras - Mason McTavish - Alex Killorn
Frank Vatrano - Ryan Strome - Troy Terry
Cutter Gauthier - Isac Lundeström - Brett Leason
Ross Johnston - Jansen Harkins - Sam Colangelo
Jackson LaCombe - Olen Zellweger
Cam Fowler - Radko Gudas
Brian Dumoulin - Drew Helleson
John Gibson (confirmed)
Golden Knights Projected Lines
Ivan Barbashev - Jack Eichel - Pavel Dorofeyev
Tomáš Hertl - Nicolas Roy - Keegan Kolesar
Brett Howden - William Karlsson - Victor Olofsson
Tanner Pearson - Cole Schwindt - Alexander Holtz
Noah Hanifin - Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb - Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague - Kaedan Korczak
Ilya Samsonov (confirmed)