Sens suffocated Ducks, securing a late win. Ducks pushed, but couldn't find the equalizer.
In their third game of a six-game homestand, the Pacific division-leading Anaheim Ducks hosted the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night with hopes of winning their third game in a row after dropping three in a row on the road. The Ducks were on their second game of a back-to-back, after defeating the Boston Bruins on Wednesday by a score of 4-3.
Coming off five days of rest, the Sens were opening their weighty November seven-game road trip in this game, right on the playoff bubble in the Eastern Conference wild card picture with a record of 9-6-4 (22 points). They had tallied points in seven of their last eight games (4-1-3).
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Pavel Mintyukov earned some headlines between the Ducks' Wednesday-Thursday back-to-backs, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported he’d “like to be moved if he’s not going to play." He had been the defense’s healthy scratch in the two games since captain Radko Gudas returned to the lineup.
The Ducks went with the exact lineup that earned them the two points on Wednesday, meaning Mintyukov served his third game as a healthy scratch. Mikael Granlund and Ryan Poehling remained out with injuries.
The Ducks turned to backup goaltender Petr Mrazek in this game for the fifth time this season. He saved 22 of 25 shots. Opposing Mrazek in the Ottawa crease was Linus Ullmark, who stopped 23 of 25.
Game Notes
This game, visually, truly felt like one between a team on their second game of a back-to-back (Ducks) vs a team with five days' rest (Sens). The Sens were the more physical team and utilized it to suffocate the Ducks in the neutral zone and win board battles in small areas early. The Ducks did well to counter in the first period, but fell victim to the Sens’ onslaught in the second period.
The Ducks evened out the 5v5 battle more in the third, as both teams tightened up defensively. The Sens were ultimately able to get the late-game winner from Drake Batherson to avoid overtime and come away with the two points in this game. The Ducks pushed in the third, especially late, to get points out of this game, to no avail, but it felt like that push needed to come a bit sooner in the game.
“Hung in there until the last two minutes and they got the go-ahead goal there,” Mason McTavish said after the game. “It was a decent effort from us, but it would have been a lot better, obviously, if we could have got at least a point there.”
Defensive Zone: Ottawa’s directive in the offensive zone wasn’t to necessarily seek out cross-ice seam passes, feed the points for perimeter shots, or build dangerous rushes off breakouts and regroups (though they did have several sequences where they were able to generate chances that way). Instead, they had stretches where they would dominate offensive zone time and bully pucks to the net front, where Mrazek came up big for the Ducks all game.
“Guys just got caught out there too long, and once you’re a minute into your shift, still in the defensive zone, it’s tough to get that change. Especially in the second period, being so far away from the bench," McTavish said. "I don’t think it had anything to do with our breakouts. I think that’s more being out there too long and maybe shorten up the shifts.”
Cycle: This was the best the Ducks had performed on the cycle in the last five or six games. All four lines did well to keep possession low in the offensive zone and work pucks to the point, where defensemen were active, roaming, and looking for lanes to make impact plays.
“They play a pretty stingy style, and they’re really good at it,” McTavish continued.” There wasn’t much out there for both teams at the start."
Line Shuffling: Just after the halfway mark of the second period, the Ducks coaching staff, in an effort to generate new offensive looks, swapped their top two centers. Mason McTavish finished on a line between Chris Kreider and Troy Terry, while Leo Carlsson ended up between Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke. Both lines immediately scored on their first shifts together.
“We had more pace in our game,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said after the game when asked about the lineup changes. “We had more zone time, we had more possession. I thought we got something out of it and put ourselves in a position (to win).”
Of late, teams have been keen on shadowing Carlsson when he’s building speed while looking for secondary outlets and lead rushes through the neutral zone. By placing Sennecke and Gauthier on his wings, they draw more attention in that regard, as they are similarly deadly with the puck on their sticks in transition.
In theory, and they displayed it in stretches, McTavish and Kreider have the ability to protect pucks for elongated periods deep in the offensive zone, draw defenders to them, and move pucks to linemates. This allows Terry to operate in more space, where he thrives and can make plays in movement.
It will be curious to see if head coach Joel Quenneville and the coaching staff revert to the forward lines that have become familiar or if they intend to build on the changes they made in this game.
Frank Vatrano: Vatrano has carved out a role for himself on his line with Ryan Strome and Alex Killorn since the line has been put together. His all-out, north-south style is a decent foil to Strome and Killorn’s more tactical approach. Vatrano was impactful on the forecheck, forcing misguided outlets from opposing defenders, and put in the effort to get pucks and his body to the net as much as he could offensively.
The Ducks will try to get back into the win column on Saturday, when they’ll host the Vegas Golden Knights, with the top spot in the Pacific Division up for grabs.
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