The Hockey News' Derek Lee reports from the Ducks' Friday morning practice.
IRVINE, Calif. - Fresh off appearing at Disney California Adventure Park yesterday for Anaheim Ducks Disney Days, the Ducks were back on the ice for practice ahead of their matchup tomorrow against the Los Angeles Kings.
"It's nice," said Ilya Lyubushkin of the events from yesterday. "It's fun for kids (and) my family. My kids were super excited."
"It was fun," said Leo Carlsson. "A lot of fans were there too. The parade was fun too, waving at everybody."
The lines remained the same as they did from Wednesday's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and yesterday's abridged practice before the team headed over to Disney.
It's been three games for Alex Killorn since he returned from arthroscopic knee surgery that kept him out for about a month. The winger says he feels good from a conditioning standpoint and that now it's just about getting the timing down again, which comes with getting more reps every day at practice and in games.
"It's been bothering me for a while," said Killorn when referencing his knee issue. "At the beginning of the year, it didn't really affect my play and (then) I felt like it was affecting my play and my battles. It was just painful and I felt like it was a negative part of my game. I got it (cleaned up) and now I feel like there's no hindrances now."
A player with a relatively clean bill of health prior to this season, the 34-year-old has now had two separate layoffs due to injuries. He is on track to play the lowest amount of games (excluding the COVID-shortened season) in a season in his career since his rookie year in 2012-13.
"It's tough because, throughout the season, I don't think I had a great start and then I felt like I was starting to find my game," said Killorn. "Then you've got to get surgery. So, now I've got to come back and try to go through that process again, whereas when you're playing 82 games, you have ups and downs, but throughout the season you kind of find your way."
"Having that time off has been good because I needed to get it done, but then you've just got to make sure you're coming back and you're ready to play."
