Detailed notes on Wednesday's game between the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators
Detailed notes on Wednesday's game between the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators
For the second leg of their four-game road trip, the Ducks visited the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday evening for the second matchup between the two teams this December.
Leo Carlsson to Return From Injury Against Ottawa Senators
The Ducks won the last meeting between them and the Sens by a score of 4-3 in a shootout on Dec. 1 at Honda Center.
The Ducks came into this game winless in their last three and fresh off a shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
The Sens were looking to return to .500 after dropping their last game to the New York Islanders on Sunday.
Leo Carlsson returned to the Ducks lineup in this game after missing the last six with an upper-body injury. He centered the team's listed second line between Alex Killorn and Brett Leason.
Jacob Trouba played his second game in a Ducks' sweater next to Cam Fowler. The defensive logjam's casualties in this game were Jackson LaCombe and Drew Helleson, who both served as healthy scratches along with Sam Colangelo among the forwards.
John Gibson got the start in this game for the Ducks and stopped 29 of 34 shots. He didn't stand much of a chance of stopping any of them.
In the opposing crease for the Sens was Linus Ullmark, who saved 31 of 32 shots in this game.
"We weren't skating," said Ducks head coach Greg Cronin. "I mean, they were jumping from the opening face-off, they won face-off battles, they won edge battles, they won puck battles. It's hard to compete when you're behind the puck."
Here are my notes on this one:
Defensive Zone Coverage: The Senators' coaching staff deserves ample credit for the adjustments they made in the week and a half since they last faced the Ducks, specifically on the cycle. They didn't just make low to high passes that led to point shots. They mandated carrying pucks from corners to the top of the zone to draw defenders with them against the Ducks' man coverage.
They were then able to run switches and rotate to disorganize the Ducks' coverage, leading to the most dangerous chances they had.
Cam Fowler: Fowler had a couple of glaring errors in this game, including improperly boxing out on the Sens opening goal and misreading backcheckers which caused poor angling against the rush. He seems to be one of many players on the roster whose skillset doesn't entirely align with the way the Ducks' are trying to play.
Neutral Zone Forecheck: Again, Ottawa's coaching staff deserves credit for diagnosing the Ducks' forecheck. Their breakouts were far too connected and the curling forwards in support blew by the Ducks' second forechecking layer, leading to easy entry and rush opportunities.
Leo Carlsson: A poor result will overshadow how polished Carlsson looked in his return to the lineup. He was as explosive as ever, manipulating, throwing cutbacks, and jumping into space with the puck. He was a force in the defensive and neutral zones, but will hope to create more offensively moving forward.
Penalty Kill: The Ducks' aggressive diamond has become leaky of late. The aggression at the top of the zone is leading to outnumbered opportunities low for the opposing power play, as demonstrated by Ottawa's third and fifth goals in this game.
Once pressure is established, it may benefit one or both of the forwards to drop lower to prevent seam passes underneath or 3v2's below the dots.
The Ducks will be right back at it on Thursday when they'll travel to face the Toronto Maple Leafs.