The Hockey News' Derek Lee previews the Ducks' matchup against the San Jose Sharks
Coming off arguably their worst loss of the season, a 6-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Kings, the Ducks will look to bounce back with another division matchup, this time against the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks are coming off a 6-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
“We’ve just got to get back to the basics,” Ducks winger Ross Johnston said. “Play simple hockey, work hard, like we did at the start of the year. (San Jose) is a hungry team, similar organizational places. We are both battling for playoffs, so it's going to be an intense game. Both teams want it, so, hopefully, we show up and get back to the fundamentals tonight.”
“We’ve had responses to games (like Saturday’s) earlier in the year (where) we generally respond in the correct way,” head coach Joel Quenneville said. “That's all we're looking for tonight. Blame it on too much whatever we didn't have or had over the break. Not characteristic of what we're looking for. Just playing the right way is gonna be part of it, too.”
Frank Vatrano left Saturday’s game during the third period and did not return after colliding face-first into the boards. He was not present for both Sunday’s practice and Monday’s morning skate. Quenneville said that they’ll know more about his complete diagnosis later in the day.
With Vatrano out, Nikita Nesterenko will draw back into the lineup, his first appearance in almost a month. Nesterenko last played on Nov. 30, a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. Ducks captain Radko Gudas will also miss Monday’s game due to an illness. Pavel Mintyukov draws in in his place.
“Excited to get back in the lineup and do anything I can to help the team win,” Nesterenko said. “That’s the main focus.”
“He had some good stretches there when he started the season with us and gave us a different look,” Quenneville said. “You can use him in a couple different ways, kill penalties, different sides of the ice. We got caught in the numbers game, but he's been diligent every single day waiting for this opportunity, probably waited longer than we could have or should have. At the same time, we're happy to have him back in there and give him a chance to play. But he's been useful when he was in and I'm sure that he's excited about this chance, too.”
“You just try to stay in shape,” Nesterenko said. “Whenever your opportunity comes, you just have to make the most of it. Every day, you're working on your conditioning, working on your shooting, taking a ton of shots after every practice. Trying to stay in shape so you don't get back in the lineup and you're like, ‘Oh’, really out of shape and like, ‘What’s happening right now?’ That was the main thing to focus on.”
“It's not a fun place to be, but those guys did exactly what they have to be,” Johnston said of Nesterenko and Jansen Harkins, who has also played sparingly lately but will be in the lineup against San Jose. “You work hard on the ice, you keep your legs and your mind in the best shape it can be for when your number gets called to commit and contribute to this. We have a good team here and we have lots of depth and those two guys, I've been in that position before and it's not that fun. So they've done a great job of keeping a positive mindset within the room. When Harky played last game, he played awesome. And when Nikita comes in tonight and Harky comes in, they'll play well again. They’re in shape, they’re ready to roll and they're looking to contribute to what we’ve got going here.”
Ducks Projected Lineup
Chris Kreider - Leo Carlsson - Mikael Granlund
Cutter Gauthier - Mason McTavish - Beckett Sennecke
Nikita Nesterenko - Ryan Poehling - Troy Terry
Ross Johnston - Jansen Harkins - Alex Killorn
Jackson LaCombe - Drew Helleson
Olen Zellweger - Jacob Trouba
Pavel Mintyukov - Ian Moore
Lukáš Dostál (confirmed)
Sharks Projected Lineup
William Eklund - Macklin Celebrini - Igor Chernyshov
Collin Graf - Alexander Wennberg - Tyler Toffoli
Jeff Skinner - Ty Dellandrea - Adam Gaudette
Barclay Goodrow - Zack Ostapchuk - Ryan Reaves
Dmitry Orlov - John Klingberg
Mario Ferraro - Shakir Mukhamadulin
Sam Dickinson - Vincent Iorio
Yaroslav Askarov (confirmed)