Ducks falter against depleted Devils, struggling offensively and defensively. Key questions arise after another road loss.
Their third game of a five-game road trip took the Anaheim Ducks to Newark to take on the New Jersey Devils on Saturday morning.
The Ducks were coming off a disappointing 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday and entered Saturday having lost the top spot in the Pacific Division standings, now sitting in second.
New Jersey iced a depleted lineup, as they were missing multiple impact players for this game, including Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Brett Pesce, Simon Nemec, and Johnathan Kovacevic.
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Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville made adjustments to every one of his forward lines and defensive pairs except the listed top line and pair. Pavel Mintyukov served as a healthy scratch on the blueline as Ian Moore was reinserted into the lineup.
Here’s how the Ducks lined up to start this game:
Kreider-Carlsson-Terry
Granlund-McTavish-Sennecke
Gauthier-Strome-Vatrano
Johnston-Poehling-Killorn
LaCombe-Trouba
Helleson-Gudas
Zellweger-Moore
Lukas Dostal made his return to the Ducks’ lineup following an upper-body injury that caused him to miss the Ducks' previous nine games. He saved 18 of 21 shots in this game.
Dostal was opposed by Jake Allen in the New Jersey net, who saved 30 of 31.
Game Notes
The Ducks continue to manufacture cycle sequences and maintain possession for extended periods, but are struggling to find soft ice off-puck and are becoming more reliant on point shots offensively as a result. The front of their net remains an issue, as New Jersey’s first two goals could have been avoided with either better scanning, decision-making, and/or tenacity when protecting the most dangerous area of the ice.
The Ducks had trouble creating dangerous offensive sequences until they were desperate for a late push to potentially pull the game closer, and the numbers reveal as much. At 5v5, the Ducks lost the expected goals battle 2.06-1.27 through the first two periods, but finished by holding 51.15% (2.35-2.25) of the expected goals share when the final buzzer sounded.
Forecheck: As has been the case of late, teams have zeroed in and eliminated a lot of what made the Ducks successful during the early part of the season: rush offense. The Ducks are struggling to create turnovers in the neutral zone and at the bluelines, which allows them to counter with numbers. Teams are sure to send backcheckers through the middle to even numbers going the other way. The way to adjust is to establish a cohesive forecheck, another area where the Ducks have struggled of late.
The Ducks F1 hasn’t been able to disrupt as has been needed when a chip and chase sequence is required. F2 and F3 are getting sucked too low in the zone, leaving a defenseman to make a tough decision on whether to pinch at the point. Anaheim’s been more diligent on the backcheck to pick up trailers, for the most part, but too much skating room is left in the neutral zone, which pushes pucks deeper into the Ducks' end of the ice.
Lukas Dostal: Dostal played as well as anyone could have hoped in his return to the lineup after an extended absence. The aspect that stood out was his puck handling. For a team that has struggled to advance pucks cleanly beyond their blueline, having Dostal as almost a third defenseman, who can knock down pucks, show poise, and send outlets up ice, is a luxury not to be overlooked.
Sennecke/McTavish/Helleson: This trio didn’t put forth their best defensive efforts in this game. Sennecke reverted to making some rookie mistakes in this game, such as midjudging how much time and space he had, careless puck management, and questionable backchecking efforts.
At times, McTavish overcommitted to support pucks, often failing to get to his spot on time, and wound up leaving soft ice behind him. For as fundamentally sound as Helleson is on the backend, he’s come up short when competing in front of his net on occasion, as was the case on New Jersey’s first and second goals in this game.
Ian Moore: Moore played a career-high 20:26 TOI in this game and earned every second of it. He remains a cerebral yet poignant defender, always taking proper angles and engaging opponents through their bodies. He continued to make quick decisions, evade forechecks, and lead breakouts. With him on the ice at 5v5 (where he led the team with 19:04 TOI), the Ducks held a 21-19 shot attempt advantage, a 9-2 shots on goal advantage, and generated 54.75% of the expected goals share.
The Ducks will hope to avoid a three-game losing streak on Monday, when they’ll take on the New York Rangers, a game highly anticipated as Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba return to MSG.
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