Detailed notes from Friday night's game between the New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks hosted the New Jersey Devils on Friday night at Honda Center. This would be the second game of a back-to-back for the Ducks who are coming off a 6-4 win in San Jose against the Sharks. The Devils entered this game seeking to remain relevant in the Eastern Conference playoff race as they were five points outside of third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Takeaways from the Ducks 6-4 Win over the Sharks
Nico Daws got the Devils' crease in this game and is coming off a 29-save performance where he allowed two goals on Tuesday against the Sharks. Lukas Dostal was named the starting goaltender for Anaheim in this game after John Gibson got the start the night before. Dostal's last game was a 25-save performance where he allowed three goals in the Ducks' 4-2 loss against the Predators on Sunday.
Game #60: Ducks vs. Devils Gameday Preview
Troy Terry was set to return to the lineup in this game after missing the previous two with an upper-body injury. Leo Carlsson was forced to miss this game after sustaining an upper-body injury in Thursday night's game. He is listed as day-to-day. Cam Fowler also missed this game and is day-to-day with a facial laceration. Mason McTavish exited this game early in the second period with a lower-body injury. His status will be monitored in the coming days. Olen Zellweger was recalled from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL on an emergency loan after Cam Fowler's injury and the departure of Ilya Lyubushkin. Here are my notes from this game:
Forecheck: The Ducks forechecking was the star of the show offensively in this game. There was an aggression and cohesion with how they pressured deep in the offensive zone that led to several chances. Max Jones in particular was disruptive all game and with the cerebral nature of his linemates, Adam Henrique and Alex Killorn, they were able to diagnose the chaos caused by Jones and keep pucks in the offensive zone.
Rush Defense: The Devils are a team that prioritizes generating offense off the rush. With a more passive neutral zone forechecking approach and diligent forwards on the backcheck, the Ducks were able to negate the speed the Devils tried to generate through the middle of the ice on breakouts and regroups.
Pavel Mintyukov: Mintyukov had an up and down defensive game in this one. He made a rare poor pinching decision early that led to a breakaway for Devils forward Chris Tierney. He was spectacular, as always, defending the rush one-on-one with stellar gap and stick work. Mintyukov was also a little shaky in D-zone coverage where he allowed his assignment to gain separation at times.
Olen Zellweger: Playing on his offhand side, Zellweger's ability to move pucks up the strong side wall was slightly hindered. However, when he was able to pull pucks off the wall to the middle of the ice on breakouts and regroups, it opened up several outlet options for him. He also made a lot of clever one-touch passes that caught forecheckers off balance.
Alex Killorn: After a spectacular performance creating offense off the rush, Killorn struggled early in that department in this game. He was indecisive with the puck and made some questionable reads.
Lukas Dostal: Dostal was spectacular in this game. Among his 52 saves were ones where he did a great job tracking pucks through screens and off rebounds and remained positionally sound. There wasn't a goal he allowed that one would consider "soft".
The Anaheim Ducks will remain at Honda Center for their next game when they will take on the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night at 5PM PST.
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