The Ducks elevated their internal expectations this season and, in turn, they’ve raised their stakes, now closing back to within six points of a playoff spot that felt up for grabs ahead of Saturday’s bout with the Chicago Blackhawks at Honda Center.
They beat the West’s final wild-card team du jour, the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday, when they slathered on five consecutive goals to negate a two-goal deficit from the first intermission. By defeating the Kings in overtime Wednesday, Vancouver had hopped over the Calgary Flames, who remained one point back. St. Louis and Utah have each won three straight games to narrowly stay ahead of the Ducks.
“Everyone wants to be playing important games at this time of year,” Ducks winger Frank Vatrano said. “Obviously, the past few years, it sucked when we were out of the playoffs [around] the All-Star break. It’s nice for these younger guys to get a taste of what it’s like in crunch time, how every point matters and how every play matters.”
The Ducks have collected 17 of their last 20 possible points at home, where they’ll confront Chicago, the NHL’s second-worst team by points percentage. Chicago is in the midst of a five-game skid, its fifth losing streak of four or more games this season.
Turbulence has defined a franchise that brought three Stanley Cups to the Windy City between 2010 and 2015, when they defeated the Ducks in a grueling, seven-game conference finals series. They haven’t qualified for a traditional Stanley Cup Playoffs since they were swept by Nashville in 2017’s first round, the same year the Ducks returned to the conference finals and last won a series.
Connor Bedard, 2023’s top draft pick, hasn’t shown the linear progress one might expect, enduring another year with a ghastly plus-minus rating, slowing his scoring pace and already giving the puck away more often in 59 games than he did all season as a rookie.
The Ducks’ Leo Carlsson went right behind Bedard and while he also appeared to take some significant steps sideways, he was dangerous in the match against Vancouver, one that he entered with seven points in seven February appearances. Carlsson has been centering a line with Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn, while McTavish’s former linemate, Cutter Gauthier, now flanks Isac Lundeström opposite call-up Sam Colangelo, who replaced the injured Robby Fabbri (upper body) on Thursday.
On Chicago’s blue line, 30-year-old veteran and former All-Star Seth Jones expressed a preference that he and his $9.5 million cap hit for the next five seasons be moved to another club. Accommodating that desire could be tricky for Chicago, whose heavy investment of both cash and trade assets into Jones has left them with little more than an ostentatious relic of a failed retooling.
Meanwhile, the Ducks’ top defender this year has been something of a pleasant surprise. Jackson LaCombe went from making tentative passes in his own end last year to displaying supreme swagger in the offensive zone, as he did on his poised snipe to seal the Canucks’ fate on Thursday.
Coach Greg Cronin said LaCombe’s college coach, Bob Motzko of Minnesota, assured him of the type of skilled, athletic defenseman LaCombe was. As happened between his freshman and sophomore years as a Golden Gopher, LaCombe’s game and assertiveness alike have taken off, both Cronin and Vatrano observed.
“As a young guy, you kind of figure out what works in this league. He understands how effective he is when he’s skating, confident and making his plays,” Vatrano said. “He showed some glimpses of it last year, but he took a huge step this year. He’s been our best defenseman.”
Chicago at Ducks
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Honda Center
TV: Victory+, KCOP (Ch. 13)