The Hockey News’ Derek Lee reports from the Ducks’ Thursday morning practice.
Back from their five-game, 10-day road trip, the Ducks took the ice on Thursday for one of the few practices they’ve had this month. Due to a compacted schedule because of the Winter Olympics this upcoming February, most of the Ducks’ off-days have recently been used for travel.
“I definitely feel like we're playing more,” Ryan Strome said. “I don't know what the numbers actually say, if we are, but it just feels like it's more condensed than usual. But I don't know if many guys in here are going to complain about less practices, more games. You just kind of roll with the punches. Every team's dealing with the same thing, right? We get Dallas on a back-to-back tomorrow, feels nice to get the second end of the team on that. But, at the end of the day, every team's dealing with it, so it's an even playing field for everyone.”
Anaheim finished their recent road trip with a 2-2-1 record, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers while falling to the New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets.
“Five points out of ten. I think we could play a little bit better, but it's a tough trip and I thought we found a way to kind of grind it out there (in the) last two games of the trip, which is nice,” Strome said. “There’s definitely positives. We’re kind of in the thick of it here with the schedule, and we want to just make sure that we're pushing forward. To look back on the trip does us no good with three (games) in four nights before Christmas. Good chance at home ice here to keep establishing our game and feel good about ourselves over the break.”
During the road trip, goaltender Lukáš Dostál returned from a nine-game absence caused by an upper-body injury. Dostál declined to get into specifics regarding the nature of his injury.
“I feel really good,” Dostál said. “Nice to be back. Faster than I thought, so glad to be back.”
Dostál started two of the five games during the road trip, with Ville Husso picking up the other three. Dostál stopped 18 of 21 shots in his return against the Devils and stopped 26 of 27 shots against the Rangers.
“There were some games that we wish we could have done better, but it's already in the past,” Dostál said. “Now, we have to focus for tomorrow's's game and the game after that.”
Petr Mrázek, who is currently on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, practiced with the team for the first time since suffering his injury on Nov. 30. With Dostál and Mrázek both out, Husso was recalled from AHL San Diego and made eight starts, going 5-2-1 with an .883 SV%.
“Super happy for him,” Dostál said. “He’s a great guy, It's so nice to be around him because I had a chance to meet him last year and we had a very nice duo. He's done a hell of a job down there and deserved a chance. He played really well for us.”
Though he remains with the team, Husso was not on the ice for Thursday’s practice, with both Dostál and Mrázek present (EDIT: Husso has been reassigned to San Diego). The next appearance for Husso would be his 10th of the season, which means he would require passing through waivers to be reassigned to the AHL.
The Ducks have a Friday-Saturday back-to-back against the Dallas Stars and the Blue Jackets, which means that either Husso or Mrázek will start one of the two games. If Mrázek is ready to go, Husso could be reassigned without the threat of waivers—and possibly being claimed by a needy team.
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