A whirlwind road trip may have dizzied the Ducks, but they’ll be right back at it Thursday at Honda Center in a tilt with the Vancouver Canucks.
Vancouver won the only prior meeting, 5-1 on Nov. 5, but much has changed for both clubs since with the two franchises being among the most active in the in-season trade market.
The Ducks most recently bookended a slapdash schedule of three away games in four nights by blowing two-goal leads. In Boston, they survived in overtime, but in Buffalo, they staked themselves to an early advantage yet failed to add to it before the Sabres’ three-goal, third-period barrage. In between, they surmounted two different three-goal deficits in Detroit, but earned just one point for an OT loss.
As the Red Wings did that in that game, the Ducks converted twice during a five-on-three opportunity to build a multi-goal lead about five minutes into the match. The Wings have owned one of the NHL’s best power plays, however, while the Ducks had long since planted themselves firmly on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Yet Buffalo’s tenacity – they doubled up the Ducks on shots in the first period and put three times as many pucks on net in the third – won out in the end, as the Ducks came up empty five-on-five and once again relied on goalie Lukáš Dostál to conserve a chance at winning a contest they led 2-0.
“They came out like gangbusters and we were very fortunate that we were ahead in the first. They had multiple grade-A chances, and Lukáš was awesome,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin told reporters. “[In the third period], they came out the first couple shifts and they were buzzing around our [defensive] zone and they got momentum from it, and they deserved it. They deserved to win the game, they deserved the goals. We couldn’t match their pace and we couldn’t match their work habits.”
For captain Radko Gudas, the big picture was still encouraging, even with the Ducks’ five-game points streak ending with a disappointing loss. It was one he said “stung” more because Dostál and the first multi-goal game from the power play in over three months gave them a chance to win and end the road trip in the black rather than breaking even with three of six points.
“I think we’re trending toward the right way, we’re playing some meaningful games and we’re playing well against good teams,” Gudas said. “For us, there are a lot of positives.”
While the Ducks had a sinewy slink through the Eastern Conference, the Canucks have been twisting and turning for much of the campaign.
Last season, Vancouver had the biggest year-over-year gain in the standings and won its first postseason series in a traditional playoff format since 2011, the year the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup Final in seven games to the Boston Bruins.
This season, they traded mainstay J.T. Miller back to the New York Rangers after his personal leave of absence and reported discord with Vancouver’s other big-ticket center, Elias Pettersson. They flipped the pick acquired in that swap as part of a deal with Pittsburgh for former Duck Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor.
Similarly, the Ducks have made multiple moves, most notably bringing in Jacob Trouba and shipping out Cam Fowler soon afterward.
Ahead of Vancouver’s matchup with the Kings on Wednesday, the front end of the back-to-back set they’ll complete against the Ducks, the Canucks had slipped out of playoff position after being leapfrogged by Calgary. The Flames won each of their past two games while the Canucks dropped consecutive decisions.
Vancouver at Ducks
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Honda Center
How to watch: Victory+, KCOP (Ch. 13)