The Ducks ended February as one of the hottest teams in the league with a 5-1-1 record. They’ll look to continue their hot streak against the Chicago Blackhawks, who are currently on a five-game losing streak.
“They’ve got a lot of skill and a lot of speed,” Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said. “I watched the Utah game (and) the Vegas game, they could have folded. They came back hard in that game and they’ve got good special teams, like really good special teams in the top-10. So, we’ve got to make sure that we are disciplined with our play and that we make sure we stay above. We don't wanna give them odd-man rushes. We don't want to get into a track meet chase game.”
John Gibson, who will be honored with a pre-game ceremony for appearing in his 500th NHL game on Feb. 4, will start against the Blackhawks. Gibson left during the Ducks’ game against the Boston Bruins on Feb. 22 with an upper-body injury and had not played since.
“(Gibson has) become one of my closest friends,” Troy Terry said. “Just the time we've spent together. He was a bit of a mentor to me when I was young and now we both have kids. He has three kids and they're a little older than mine, but just how close we've gotten just as humans and how much I appreciate him as a friend. From a hockey standpoint, what he's meant to this organization can't be understated. Every year, no matter what's going on, he's kind of just that rock back there and this year has been no different.”
The Ducks are coming off a strong performance on Thursday, a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks which brings them within six points of the second Wild Card spot with a game in hand.
“Those are the games that we've been wanting to play in for a few years now,” Terry said. “I think it's good for everyone to be in those games and you could just feel the intensity was a little bit higher. I thought all four lines kind of did a job last night and that's kind of the step our team's taken. We don't get rattled when we're down two or whatever, and we just kind of stuck with it.”
“I think the room is aware of how we have to play to be successful,” Cronin said. “And we get off that a little bit in the first period (against Vancouver), we got a little bit sloppy on our regroups and we brought pucks back. I think when we do that, it just slows our game down.”
Ducks Projected Lines
Frank Vatrano - Ryan Strome - Troy Terry
Mason McTavish - Leo Carlsson - Alex Killorn
Cutter Gauthier - Isac Lundeström - Sam Colangelo
Ross Johnston - Jansen Harkins - Brett Leason
Jackson LaCombe - Radko Gudas
Pavel Mintyukov - Jacob Trouba
Brian Dumoulin - Drew Helleson
John Gibson (confirmed)
Blackhawks Projected Lines
Andreas Athanasiou - Connor Bedard - Tyler Bertuzzi
Landon Slaggert - Frank Nazar - Colton Dach
Teuvo Teräväinen - Ryan Donato - Ilya Mikheyev
Pat Maroon - Lukas Reichel - Craig Smith
Ethan Del Mastro - Connor Murphy
Alex Vlasic - Alec Martinez
Wyatt Kaiser - T.J. Brodie
Arvid Söderblom (confirmed)