Game #55: Ducks vs. Golden Knights Gameday Preview (02/01/26)

In a nationally-televised matchup, the Ducks look to sweep the season series against the Golden Knights.

The first two games of the three-game series have gone the way of the mallards, with both results coming in overtime. Jacob Trouba beat Akira Schmid through the five hole on Nov. 8 and Cutter Gauthier replicated the extra frame outcome on Nov. 22 after taking advantage of a Mitch Marner turnover.

Anaheim is coming off a 2-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 29, while the Golden Knights are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

Both teams are currently navigating injuries, especially in the center category. The Ducks have been without Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish while the Golden Knights are missing Brett Howden and William Karlsson. Karlsson suffered injury in that Nov. 8 game against the Ducks and has not played since. He is unlikely to return for the remainder of the regular season.

Anaheim is expected to have one, if not two of their players return from injury on Sunday. Troy Terry is expected to be in the lineup after missing the last 11 games with an upper-body injury. Terry has tried to return from the injury several times already, but ultimately felt unfit to play.

“It’s been frustrating,” Terry said. “Just annoying and frustrating, I would say. But it’s been a process and I feel confident going into (Sunday), so I’m excited.”

McTavish has missed the last five games with an upper-body injury, but participated fully in team practice on Saturday, centering Jeff Viel and Cutter Gauthier.

When asked if he would be ready to play in Sunday’s game, McTavish responded with “I feel good. It’s up to (the training staff).”

With Terry and potentially McTavish back in the fold, Anaheim would return two of their top offensive talents. With Carlsson still weeks away from returning after undergoing a procedure to treat a Morel-Lavallée lesion, the team has been a bit short of offensive creativity with the trio of Terry, McTavish and Carlsson out of the lineup.

Simplicity on defense and a streamlined approach on offense helped spur the Ducks to a seven-game winning streak, but a winnable game in Edmonton that was lost during a four-minute stretch and an offensively-devoid performance against the Canucks has been the latest wobble. They’ll look to get back in the saddle against Vegas, who is 1-2-2 in their last five games.

“They have some high-end forwards, and they’re just a good team,” Terry said. “(Can’t give) them rush chances. I think we’ve had success in their end. Establish the forecheck and just trying to do whatever we can to establish a ground game going down there.”

“They’re a really experienced team,” McTavish said. “Really big. You’ve got to really get to the inside, and put an emphasis on that. That’s something we can do. We can get to the inside really quick, too, so we can catch them off guard sometimes, but they’ll be ready to go. It’ll be a good one.”

Ducks Projected Lines

Alex Killorn - Mikael Granlund - Beckett Sennecke
Chris Kreider - Ryan Poehling - Troy Terry
Jeff Viel - Mason McTavish - Cutter Gauthier
Ross Johnston - Tim Washe - Jansen Harkins

Jackson LaCombe - Jacob Trouba
Olen Zellweger - Radko Gudas
Pavel Mintyukov - Ian Moore

Lukáš Dostál (projected)

Golden Knights Lines

Ivan Barbashev - Jack Eichel - Mark Stone
Pavel Dorofeyev - Mitch Marner - Braeden Bowman
Jonas Røndbjerg - Tomáš Hertl - Keegan Kolesar
Cole Reinhardt - Reilly Smith - Alexander Holtz

Jérémy Lauzon - Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
Ben Hutton - Kaedan Korczak

Adin Hill (projected)