The Anaheim Ducks played their second game of a back-to-back on Wednesday, traveling east to take on the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City a night after losing to the Washington Capitals 7-4 in Anaheim.
Game #65: Ducks vs. Utah Gameday Preview
The Ducks entered play having lost three of their previous four games and looking to return to the .500 mark. Utah entered play three points out of the second wild card spot in the Western Conference standings and looking to return to the win column after dropping back-to-back games after regulation against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks.
Ducks head coach Greg Cronin kept the same top-nine forwards intact from the team’s several previous outings and subbed in Brett Leason for Jansen Harkins on the fourth line. The defensive pairings remained the same.
Cronin shuffled lines a bit as the game wore on and offense proved hard to come by. Trevor Zegras and Frank Vatrano swapped spots on their respective lines. Zegras finished on Ryan Strome's wing, opposite Troy Terry and Vatrano finished on Leo Carlsson’s wing, opposite Alex Killorn.
Ville Husso made his Ducks debut in this game and turned in a quality performance, stopping 36 of 39 shots and saving 1.99 goals above expected. He was sharp to his angles and made a few high-danger saves look routine. He played the puck up ice when needed and displayed effective rebound control.
Karel Vejmelka got the start in the Utah crease and saved 19 of 21 shots.
Here are my notes on this game:
Breakouts-The Ducks’ last game against Washington came down to the Caps' ability to keep pucks alive in the offensive zone and wear the Ducks down on the cycle. The key to this game came in the form of Utah’s impact on the forecheck vs Anaheim’s inability to connect on outlets and ignite breakouts.
Utah’s F1 did well to delay the Anaheim defensemen from making quick ups after retrieval, allowing their defense or F2 to pressure heavily on the outlet and nip possession before exit. Utah’s possession numbers can be attributed to their ability to force sloppy second touches and then regroup swiftly, often leading to shots on the rush.
Forecheck-In contrast to the Ducks’ inability to breakout cleanly, Utah had no trouble finding their first option on the breakout and building clean exits from there. They accomplished this by negating the Ducks’ F1 impact by not allowing speed through the neutral zone to pressure the retrieving defensemen.
Their wingers would track back toward their defensemen to negate the Ducks’ pinching defensemen and give their own puck carrying defensemen clean targets.
Olen Zellweger-Zellweger had a difficult time absorbing or slipping Utah’s hunting forwards. He was susceptible to stick lifts and failed to maintain body position when he’d win races to loose pucks. He wasn’t able to skate himself out of trouble, like we've seen from him, against a tenacious wave of forecheckers deployed by Utah. On the positive side, these are lessons he’ll be able to build off of now that he’s receiving regular playing time.
Leo Carlsson-Carlsson widened his scope significantly after gaining offensive zone entry with speed and possession in this game. Earlier in the season, he would attempt to breakdown multiple opposing defenders by himself to get a shot off that would, more often than not, end up disrupted.
As displayed on Killorn’s goal in the second period, he’s now looking to involve his streaking and supporting wingers after he draws the attention of the defensive structure.
The Ducks will head back to Anaheim to take on the visiting Nashville Predators on Friday in what will be their third game in four nights, hoping to return to the win column and put an end to their two-game skid.