Ducks battle through a back-to-back, featuring Carlson's debut and a surprising scratch, to edge the Canadiens in a wide-open, back-and-forth contest.
To wrap up their four-game road trip, the Anaheim Ducks traveled to Quebec to face the Montreal Canadiens for the second time in nine days.
Anaheim was on their second leg of a back-to-back, coming off a 2-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, and hoping to head back home with a .500 record to show for the trip.
The Habs entered the game in third place in the Atlantic Division, having won three of their previous four games.
For this game, Ducks captain Radko Gudas was serving his second game of a five-game suspension for kneeing Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews.
The Ducks saw the return of forward Troy Terry, who had missed the team’s last nine games with an upper-body injury. This game also featured the Ducks debut of newly-acquired defenseman John Carlson, who was coming off a lower-body injury and hadn’t played since Feb. 5 as a member of the Washington Capitals.
Mason McTavish was a surprise healthy scratch for this game, as he’d only registered two points (0-2=2) in his previous ten games. Defenseman Drew Helleson was the other Ducks scratch for this game, as forward Ross Johnston remained out with a lower-body injury.
Here’s how the Ducks lined up for this one:
Kreider-Carlsson-Terry
Killorn-Granlund-Sennecke
Viel-Poehling-Gauthier
Vatrano-Washe-Harkins
LaCombe-Trouba
Zellweger-Carlson
Mintyukov-Moore
Lukas Dostal got the start for this game for the third time on the four-game trip. He stopped 27 of the 30 shots he faced. He was opposed by rookie Jacob Fowler in the Habs’ net, who saved 24 of 28.
Game Notes
Much like their previous encounter, this game was wide open, with both teams exchanging rush opportunities and leaving seams open along with lanes in every zone. Neither team seized nor yielded game flow for extended periods, rendering this one of the more even matchups the Ducks have participated in this season.
The underlying numbers gave the Ducks the edge at 5v5, as they accounted for 54.17% of the shots on goal, 53.13% of the shot attempts, and 54.33% of the expected goals.
Rush Defense: The biggest struggle for the Ducks in this game was defending the Habs’ speed in transition. Montreal consistently sent three forwards to the neutral zone on regroups, and their puck-movers on the backend would find them cutting laterally with stretch passes. The Ducks’ defenders were forced to respect their speed and allowed too much gap, as the forwards were too slow to pressure the puck carriers or recognize forwards behind them, which led to multiple odd-man attacks or controlled entries with speed.
John Carlson: Carlson is a 17-year veteran of the league, so he’s played in every system imaginable during his career. Jumping into the Ducks system wasn’t much of an adjustment for him, but paired with Olen Zellweger, the Ducks’ most active blueliner, he was able to make simple reads and play a structured, safe game.
His foot speed isn’t what it once was, but his angling and positioning are refined. He broke pucks out efficiently, read forechecks in front of him, and made proper outlets or high flips to the safety of neutral ice. As the season winds down, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him further explore how to optimize himself in the offensive zone when the Ducks are cycling.
Troy Terry: Terry returned to this game and seemingly didn’t miss a beat. He transported pucks, cleverly dissected defenders 1v1 (or defensive structures as a whole), and got pucks to the high-danger areas of the ice at will. His vision in this game was impactful, and with his gaining entry, his linemate, Leo Carlsson, was able to get to open ice off puck and execute cycle sequences, forcing him to add layers to his offensive game and make him more of a multi-dimensional threat.
Cutter Gauthier: With the game-winner in this one, Gauthier now has 11 goals in his last 13 games. He was placed on a line with Ryan Poehling and Jeffrey Viel, where he was forced to become the offensive play-driver. In transition, he saw more puck touches and utilized his speed to back defenders toward their goal line. When he didn’t have angles to wheel wide, he chipped pucks for his linemates to forecheck and pressure defenders, an area of strength for them.
The Ducks will return home on Wednesday to host Trevor Zegras in his return to Honda Center, as the Philadelphia Flyers will be in Southern California.