Defensive breakdowns and offensive struggles plagued the Ducks as Minnesota capitalized, exposing persistent net-front coverage issues.
To close out their three-game homestand and schedule of six of seven games at Honda Center, the Anaheim Ducks hosted the Minnesota Wild on Friday night at Honda Center.
The Ducks came into this game winless in their prior four games, and Minnesota entered on a four-game point streak.
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The Ducks made some tweaks to their lineup to start this game, as the blueline got captain Radko Gudas back after missing two games due to injury. Here’s how the Dukcs lined up to start this game:
Gauthier-Carlsson-Killorn
Kreider-McTavish-Sennecke
Nesterenko-Granlund-Terry
Johnston-Poehling-Harkins
LaCombe-Trouba
Mintyukov-Moore
Zellweger-Gudas
Lukas Dostal got the start for Anaheim and saved 29 of the 34 shots he faced. Dostal was opposed by Filip Gustavsson in the Minnesota crease, who stopped 26 of 28.
“Tonight wasn’t very good,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said after the game. “Our beginning was good. They score, we kinda lose our way, we give up a couple there. Then it looked like we were starting to trend back in the game.
“Our start of the second period wasn’t very good, but I didn’t mind our first period, and then the third, they had the puck a lot more than us.”
Game Notes
After surviving an early push from Anaheim, the latter 50 minutes of this game were all Minnesota. They negated forechecks, took advantage of the slightest of miscues from Anaheim, and won the majority of battles in the tightest of areas on the ice, specifically the front of the Anaheim net.
A fairly even first period gave way to a dominant second from Minnesota and a third in which the Ducks generated a handful of looks, but they were too little too late. Whenever Anaheim attempted to win a few shifts in a row, another fatal mistake or trip to the penalty box threw a wrench in any potential momentum-building.
“I think we’re trying different things,” Quenneville said. “Tonight, we were playing catch-up a lot, which isn’t conducive to solidifying where we need to get to. We’ll find it, but tonight was a little disappointing.”
Cycle: The Ducks started this game on the attack, looking to control play in the offensive zone. Defensemen were looking to activate, and forwards were skating pucks out of corners and joining defensemen at the point to open lanes and attempt to attack downhill.
Unfortunately, Minnesota was more efficient in retrieving loose pucks and stringing together clean exits, quickly negating second-chance opportunities or extended offensive zone time for Anaheim.
Defensive Zone Coverage: Three of Minnesota’s five goals can be tied directly to Anaheim’s poor coverage in front of their net, a weakness of theirs since the start of the season that has yet to be corrected. From poor communication, getting beat back to the top of the crease, and simply losing position battles, the Ducks' defenders will have to polish that aspect of their structure if they’re going to eventually become an improved defensive team.
The pair of goals not tied to the net-front deficiencies were due to a poor off-puck effort from Chris Kreider on Minnesota’s third and a rare Dostal angle mistake on a shot from the faceoff dot on Minnesota’s fifth. These gaffes are theoretically easy, mental fixes, and yet, they’ve gone unfixed for half a season now, costing them several points in the standings.
Troy Terry/Mikael Granlund/Beckett Sennecke: This trio represented the Ducks' only consistent offensive threats in this game. Sennecke keeps growing and figuring out how to best translate his skillset, specifically putting pucks into his own feet, whether in transition or along the wall, to shield and protect before pulling pucks away from his body and attacking in newly-created space.
Granlund displays a consistently high motor, cleverly engaging opponents, putting pucks in places where only he or a teammate can get to them, and refusing to give up on battles seemingly lost. Terry, similarly to Granlund, finds ways to pull pucks out of tight situations and into open ice, where he can build attacks toward the net or find teammates heading in that direction.
Leo Carlsson/Cutter Gauthier: On the other hand, arguably the Ducks’ two most talented and potent offensive weapons have been neutralized of late. With every adjustment Sennecke has been able to make to add layers to his attacks, Carlsson and Gauthier have struggled to do the same. Teams have focused attention on eliminating Carlsson’s desire to build speed between the bluelines, and he’s failing to manufacture change-of-pace sequences.
Gauthier, while still trigger-happy, is seeing fewer opportunities to release his shot, as he’s proving more reliant on teammates to find him in open spots, specifically off the rush. Like Carlsson, the answer may lie in moving his feet quicker to open ice when off-puck, or coming away from more battles with possession, so he can create his own shot.
The Ducks will have two days off before heading out on a four-game road trip to the East Coast, starting on Monday in DC, when they’ll take on the Washington Capitals.
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