The Hockey News’ Derek Lee reports from the Ducks’ Saturday practice.
How high are the vibes in the Ducks’ locker room right now? As soon as I walked in this morning, Alex Killorn asked me to stand next to Frank Vatrano so that our mullets could be compared. The mostly full room got a good kick out of that.
I turned 28 on Thursday, so, naturally, age discussions were had amongst some of the players.
“You’re in your prime, in hockey terms.” Killorn said.
Apologies to Jansen Harkins for not remembering that he is the other half of the Ducks’ 1997 birth year cohort. I need to be better than that.
Goaltender Ville Husso made 23 saves in a 5-4 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday after being recalled from AHL San Diego on Wednesday. He and Petr Mrázek will share the Anaheim net for the next two to three weeks while Lukáš Dostál is out with an upper-body injury.
“It was nice to get the call,” Husso said. “Never fun to see someone go down, but I've been ready. I've been playing a lot down there, so it's been good. The team is doing well there, too. I'm just trying to keep myself (at the) top of the game. It was not easy, but I was ready to go, and it was nice to get the two points.”
Husso said that there were a couple of things that he would like to clean up from Friday’s game, pointing out that it’s usually tough to win a game when you allow four goals against.
In the late stages of the game, Husso had a couple of big stops to keep the score even. For his efforts, he was awarded the Gordon Bombay jacket by Cutter Gauthier after the game, which is bestowed to the player who the Ducks’ locker room feels was the player of the game.
“That was unreal,” Husso said. “I’ve seen pictures of guys (with it), so it was fun.”
“Most people would smile,” a nearby Ross Johnston cracked.
Husso was set to be an unrestricted free agent this past summer, but barely did so before re-signing with the Ducks.
“I really enjoyed my time last year, a couple of months here,” Husso said. “There's good people around the team, both here and in San Diego, so I saw it as a good spot for myself to just get better and get my game in a good spot. Just got to keep working, keep grinding and be ready whenever.”
Mason McTavish had the shootout winner in Friday’s game and also helped facilitate the game-tying goal, with his refusal to give up the puck to Anže Kopitar along the boards before passing it to Jackson LaCombe, who set up Leo Carlsson for the tie.
McTavish’s shootout goal reeked of disrespect, as he appeared to have a large part of the right side of the net available to shoot into with his backhand. Instead, he went back to the forehand and beat Darcy Kuemper through the five hole. It’s the second time this season that he’s beaten a goaltender in this fashion.
“I don't know when I learned it,” McTavish said. “I saw Patrik Laine do it, that’s where I got it from. I've been doing it since probably grade eight, maybe? I don't know. I'd always do it on my brother, he was a goalie. It’s something I like to work on and (Dostál) likes to work on it, too, so it's just fun.”
McTavish’s good friend and former Ducks teammate Trevor Zegras scored a slick shootout goal of his own on Friday. McTavish said that Zegras texted him afterwards.
“We don't really compare (shootout moves),” McTavish said. “We'll just say, ‘Your move was sick’ or whatever, but we don't really talk about it. We just compliment each other. He’s really good at them, though he struggled against (Dostál during practice and warmups). He couldn't really score on (Dostál), but he seems to score on every other goalie, so good for him. I'm happy for him.”
The Ducks have a road back-to-back in Chicago and St. Louis on Sunday and Monday before a return home to face the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday.
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