Mason McTavish addresses the media following the Ducks' 5-1 win over the Penguins The Anaheim Ducks hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night at Honda Center. The Ducks entered this game on a four-game winless streak and had only won one of their last seven games. The Pens were fresh off a big 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday but had only won three of their last 13 entering this game. Isac Lundestrom rejoined the lineup after only missing one game with a lower-body injury, a remarkable occurrence considering how devastating the injury appeared. He centered the fourth line between Jansen Harkins and Brett Leason. Olen Zellweger found himself as the odd man out on the blueline, serving as a healthy scratch in this game. John Gibson got the start for the Ducks in this game against his hometown team and stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced. Alex Nedeljkovic opposed Gibson in the Pens' crease and saved 29 of 33 shots. Here are my notes from this game: Breakout: Anaheim broke pucks out cleaner in this game than they had in recent memory, especially compared to the last two games against the Panthers. Troy Terry turned a couple pucks over early in the game after receiving first passes, but cleaned that aspect quickly. Strong side wingers presented themselves as passing options lower in the zone to get pucks off their defensemen's sticks quicker and shorten the length of the first pass. After receiving outlets, wingers (specifically Terry and Trevor Zegras) looked to take a beat or backtrack slightly to create better lanes for second passes out of the zone. "They were coming (on the forecheck) and that's how they got those chances in the first five minutes," Ducks' head coach Greg Cronin said. "They were barreling down the walls. When you have Gudas, Trouba, and Dumoulin, those older guys are able to communicate the options if the wall is swallowed up. "They can make those calls for little reverses and short passes to reverse it out of the zone. I thought we mixed it up pretty good after those first five or six minutes." Alex Killorn addresses the media after the Ducks' 5-1 win over the Penguins Mason McTavish: McTavish was as tenacious as ever in this game. He worked pucks off the wall and into space, never giving up on a lost battle or loose puck. On the defensive side of the puck, he did well to box out his assignment around the net front and always remained to the inside of the attacker. Trevor Zegras: Zegras found effective and creative ways to keep pucks moving up ice on breakouts. When regrouping, he consistently curled to simultaneously give his defensemen better passing angles and build speed to attack through the neutral zone. "Playing with Z, he's always able to open things up because he's able to hold on the the puck and make that one play that kind of opens things up. So, he was good," forward Alex Killorn said after the game. Leo Carlsson: Carlsson is quickly developing a rapport with Zegras, but the two aren't fully firing on all cylinders just yet. The flashes are promising, especially filling into space created by the other in the neutral zone. Carlsson has slowly been improving his battling ability, establishing body position, creating more battles in corners, and coming away with more pucks. He's one of the more polished 20-year-old centers in the league, but improving in that area will amplify his game greatly. Cycle: The Ducks spent significantly more time in the offensive zone in this game. There wasn't quite as much player movement on-puck as there was in their last game against Florida, but they moved well off the puck to find open ice and lanes. After moving pucks low to high from the corners, point men made it a habit to look for forwards cutting to the far post rather than simply taking 100-foot shots from the blueline on the boards. The Ducks will next host the Nashville Predators on Saturday at Honda Center.
