The Anaheim Ducks returned home on Wednesday evening to host the Utah Mammoth, following a brief back-to-back road trip to the Midwest, where they came home with two of a possible four points. The Ducks entered play hoping to put some distance between themselves and the Vegas Golden Knights at the top of the Pacific Division standings.

Utah came into this game desperate for a win after losing four straight and hoped to climb back into a wildcard spot with two points.

Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville, as he’s one to do after a win, iced the same lineup that earned his squad a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Monday. It was an unusual lineup, opting to deploy 11 forwards and seven defensemen, with Ian Moore taking shifts at both positions. Ryan Strome and Nikita Nesterenko served as the team’s healthy scratches.

Game #27: Ducks vs. Mammoth Gameday Preview (12/03/25)

Takeaways from the Ducks 4-1 Win over the Blues

With both their starting and backup goaltenders, Lukas Dostal and Petr Mrazek, out for 2-3 weeks each, the Ducks turned to Ville Husso in net for the second straight game and third time in four games. He saved 17 of 21 shots before he was pulled after the second period, and the Ducks were down 4-0. Vyacheslav Buteyets entered the game in relief for the Ducks, making his NHL debut, and saved 10 of 13 shots.

In the Utah cage stood Karel Vejmelka, who stopped all 27 shots he faced, registering his first shutout of the season.

Game Notes

Utah played a desperate, diligent brand of hockey, clearly treating this game as a must-win. Despite knowing what to expect from their opponent, the Ducks fell behind early due to some of their routine miscues, failed to convert on a couple of chances of their own, and couldn’t adjust to Utah’s smart, energetic, and opportunistic game plan.

Game flow, eye test, and underlying numbers suggest this game was closer than the score would indicate, but one team (Utah) displayed more polish and creativity while the other (Anaheim) fell into traps of cheating for offense without the stability of a Vezina-caliber goaltender (Dostal) behind them.

Offensive Play: After having just played each other barely two weeks prior, Utah came into this matchup with a clear game plan to take away the Ducks' “A” game. Utah’s 1-1-3 neutral zone forecheck denied entries at the blueline from Anaheim, and hustling forwards on the backcheck eliminated trailer options or potential passes to defensemen joining the rush. When Anaheim adjusted and began electing to get pucks deeper, Utah’s breakout was too concise and connected to establish a forecheck against.

When the Ducks did create elongated offensive zone possessions, they uncharacteristically reverted to simple means of generating shots on net: working pucks low to high and taking point shots while getting multiple bodies to the net, fighting for position. The aspects that had rendered their cycle successful this season were nonexistent. Forwards weren’t moving their feet with the puck on their sticks, and defensemen weren’t activating lower than the blueline in attempts to confuse opposing coverage.

Defensive Play: Starting in the offensive end, the rest of the forecheck needs to read when F1 pressures by chasing behind the net and take a more passive approach. When F1 flushes a defender from behind the net and is again pressured by F2, that leaves the puck carrier with too many outlets open for breakout passes, potentially with speed, as we saw on Utah’s fourth goal. Beckett Sennecke, for as positively impactful as he was offensively (Anaheim’s best, even), his backchecking effort, both physically and mentally, left a bit to be desired.

Defensemen had a difficult time identifying when to pinch or step up on attackers or loose pucks. A mistimed pressure or step-up could lead to an easy odd-man rush the other way, as was the case multiple times in this game.

In the defensive zone, the Ducks still struggle to identify when to pressure the perimeter from the front of the net, often leaving the most dangerous area of the ice the most vulnerable. When pucks move from point to point, forwards at the top of the zone need to communicate and read who’s going to pressure and who’s going to cover the middle, and the now-net-front, strong side defenseman has to read if he’s going to have help and a green light to leave and pressure high. This area was apparent on Utah’s third goal.

Power Play: On a positive note, the Ducks generated five shots on three power play attempts and were creating quality looks on both units. The coaching staff moved Cutter Gauthier off the top unit in favor of Mason McTavish, who was more poised and astute on the wall after entry, leading to cleaner setups and maintaining possession.

The top unit was cohesive and precise with their movements, knew where their outs were, and were snappier with their passes throughout the structure, while the second unit was tenacious and leaned into generating volume with their looks.

Goaltending: Buteyets was put in a tough spot, with his team down four goals and only 20 minutes remaining on the clock. Two deflections off his own defenseman’s stick/body led to two pucks in the back of the net, as did one where he faced a 4v1, following an aggressive attempt to notch a goal on the penalty kill from his teammates. He was perhaps a bit slow to get to the far post after a rebound found its way on the far side of the net, which led to Utah’s fifth goal.

The underlying numbers weren’t too kind to Husso, who was credited with -2.18 goals saved above expected. However, it’s tough to be expected to make a stop on a guy alone in front (Utah’s first), a sniper on a breakaway (Utah’s second), and a 3v2 with two cross-ice passes (Utah’s fourth). The only one that would have been considered “soft” would have been Utah’s third, which came from outside the dots and along the perimeter and beat him short side without traffic.

The Ducks will look to erase this game from their collective memory, as they’ll host the white hot Washington Capitals, who are riding a six-game winning streak and have won nine of their last ten, on Friday night.

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