Detailed notes from Friday's pre-season game between the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks
The Anaheim Ducks wrapped up their pre-season by traveling to San Jose on Friday to take on the Sharks in their exhibition finale for the 2024-25 season.
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After several roster cuts just before puck drop, the Ducks sent what may very well end up being their opening night roster to San Jose for their sixth and final preseason game.
Like Anaheim, San Jose iced a significant portion of what's expected to make up the opening night roster. The gaping omission was 2024 first-overall selection Macklin Celebrini, who remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Lukas Dostal started in net for the Ducks and stopped 23 of 25 shots. The Ducks vastly out-shot the Sharks, as they peppered San Jose starting goaltender Vitek Vanacek, who stopped 40 of 42 shots.
With their shootout win in this game, the Ducks finish the pre-season with a 3-2-1 record.
Here are my notes from this game:
Forecheck: One of the biggest wrinkles to the Ducks' system from last year is activating defensemen to pinch further down the wall against opposing breakouts. Defensemen are required to read whether they have a high F3 support and pinch early to negate breakouts low.
If they've succeeded and the puck is kept low in the zone, they will remain there as pressure establishes and take a line to the net as an option or to open up lanes behind them.
Pavel Mintyukov: Mintyukov was noticeably more comfortable early in this game than on Wednesday against Utah. He still patrols the neutral zone and kills plays by baiting passes to his outlet assignment, but a clear improvement to his toolkit is a longer, more powerful forward skating stride.
If Mintyukov can get to even more loose pucks and recover even quicker, he'll be able to elevate his ceiling further.
Leo Carlsson: Like Mintyukov, Carlsson's skating improvement during the offseason is apparent. His four-way mobility has become a weapon, and cutting deeper with his edges like he's shown this pre-season has increased his deceptive tendencies.
Cycle: Another apparent system tweak has been at the top of the offensive zone on the cycle. Pucks are funneling low to high, and player movement at the blueline has been emphasized to create new shooting and passing lanes.
Alex Killorn: A quality often overlooked is a player's ability to recover loose pucks after shots or broken plays. Zach Hyman of the Edmonton Oilers is one of the best in the league at it, and Alex Killorn's ability in that department is proving vital to the success of his line with Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier.
Cam Fowler: Watching what may be the opening night lineup run a system they're now familiar with to practically its full intent leaves a question of Fowler's fit within it.
The Ducks want to play a style that pushes tempo, applies heavy pressure, and attacks downhill. Fowler's play style is centered around slowing the game down, relieving pressure, and surgically attacking the open ice he creates by drawing forecheckers to him.
The Ducks will open their 2024-25 season against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, Oct. 12, at SAP Center at 7 pm PST.
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