The Hockey News' Derek Lee previews the Ducks' matchup against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Ducks come out of the holiday break with a matchup against their division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. The Ducks are coming off a 3-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Monday while the Kings are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Kraken on Tuesday.
“We’re coming in with a big game right out of the gate,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said. “The rivalry has been in place for a long time and it won’t take long to recapture that in today’s game, even though everybody’s been away. We want to keep it simple against them tonight, knowing that they check well, they don’t give much in the middle of the ice. Let’s get pucks to the net and get inside and fight for the airspace.”
“We’ve got to play disciplined,” Ryan Poehling said. “They play great defensively, and they capitalize on mistakes. That’s kind of what they’ve always been, so for us to just stay disciplined and work for our offense and make them create offense as opposed to just giving it to them, I think (that) will be big for us.”
Leo Carlsson returns to the lineup after missing Monday’s game with a lower-body injury. He’ll re-assume his spot on the top line, centering Chris Kreider and Troy Terry.
“Saturday night, going to be a perfect game to get back and (get a win),” Carlsson said.
“I think they always start well, and I think that was the stretch where we had some tough beginnings to games,” Quenneville said. “But I thought we found a way (in that game against them in November). They’re stingy, probably top team in the league (in) defending their rush and in their zone. They don't give up much, so we’ve got to be content on playing that type of game and fighting for how we play in our end and making sure we get through it in theirs.”
Ducks Projected Lineup
Chris Kreider - Leo Carlsson - Troy Terry
Cutter Gauthier - Mason McTavish - Beckett Sennecke
Frank Vatrano - Mikael Granlund - Ryan Strome
Ross Johnston - Ryan Poehling - Alex Killorn
Jackson LaCombe - Jacob Trouba
Olen Zellweger - Radko Gudas
Ian Moore - Drew Helleson
Lukáš Dostál (confirmed)
Kings Projected Lineup
Trevor Moore - Anže Kopitar - Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala - Quinton Byfield - Alex Laferriere
Andrei Kuzmenko - Alex Turcotte - Warren Foegele
Joel Armia - Samuel Helenius - Corey Perry
Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke
Brain Dumoulin - Cody Ceci
Anton Forsberg (projected)