The Hockey News' Derek Lee previews the Ducks' matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Less than 24 hours ago, the Ducks were handed one of their worst losses of the season. They fell 8-3 to the Dallas Stars and looked a step behind for most of the game.
"We don't like those games," Ducks captain Radko Gudas said during his postgame media scrum. "We're back from the road trip, we want to start the homestand on the right note and this wasn't it. They have a very good team, and we felt like they were winning all the battles. They were heavier on the sticks; we kept losing those, and we turned pucks over that we don't usually do. That was a big reason why."
Just over two weeks ago, Gudas had stood in front of the media and presented similar thoughts as he shielded his team from questions about a dastardly 7-0 loss to the Utah Mammoth. Where that game against the Mammoth felt Murphy's law after a certain point, this loss to the Stars felt more self-inflicted.
"It was ugly," Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said. "I give (Dallas) credit. They can make plays, and they certainly had their way with us all night long. Started off, give up our first shorthanded goal of the year. That was kind of a funny one, and then it just went from there. It's a game that we're taking out of it. We've got a game tomorrow night. Let's have something to prove tomorrow, knowing that this one was unacceptable."
Saturday's opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets, is one that Anaheim just faced on Tuesday. That game resulted in a 4-3 overtime loss after Adam Fantilli burned down the ice and beat Ville Husso up top.
"They're a dangerous team," Quenneville said. "We're fortunate to tie it late, down 3-1. At the same time, there were some positive stretches in the game for us. I just look forward to the response (of this game), not worrying about our opponent."
While Quenneville will usually tweak the lines when the team is down a goal or two to give his players a spark or energize the group, he refrained from doing so during Friday's beatdown. When asked why he hadn't done so, he reasoned that the deficit had become too far away and that they still had a game to play the next night. There were several lineup tweaks after that 7-0 loss to Utah, which suggests that similar decisions may be made for the game against Columbus.
Goaltender Lukáš Dostál was pulled from the game during the first period of Friday's game after the Stars went up 4-1 and was replaced by Petr Mrázek, who was making his first appearance since Nov. 30, when he left that game with a lower-body injury. Because of how little he played during Friday's game, Dostál will likely start on Saturday against the Blue Jackets.
Late Friday night, Columbus acquired winger Mason Marchment from the Seattle Kraken. With the Kraken en route to San Jose for their game on Saturday, Marchment made the short trip down to Anaheim and will play in his first game as a Blue Jacket against the Ducks.
Ducks Projected Lines
Cutter Gauthier - Leo Carlsson - Alex Killorn
Chris Kreider - Mason McTavish - Beckett Sennecke
Frank Vatrano - Ryan Strome - Troy Terry
Ross Johnston - Ryan Poehling - Mikael Granlund
Jackson LaCombe - Radko Gudas
Olen Zellweger - Jacob Trouba
Pavel Mintyukov - Drew Helleson
Lukáš Dostál (projected)
Blue Jackets Projected Lines
Mason Marchment - Adam Fantilli - Kent Johnson
Boone Jenner - Charlie Coyle - Kirill Marchenko
Dmitri Voronkov - Sean Monahan - Miles Wood
Cole Sillinger - Isac Lundeström - Yegor Chinakov
Zach Werenski - Denton Mateychuk
Ivan Provorov - Damon Severson
Brendan Smith - Dante Fabbro
Elvis Merzļikins (projected)