For their second game of a back-to-back, the Anaheim Ducks hosted the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at Honda Center.
The Ducks were looking to quickly rebound from a disappointing 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Friday and return to the win column after going 0-3-1 in their previous four games. Coming into Saturday, the Ducks were tied at the top of the Pacific Division standings with the Edmonton Oilers, but Edmonton held the tiebreaker.
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Ducks Recall Tyson Hinds to NHL, Assign Lucas Pettersson, Damian Clara to AHL
Takeaways from the Ducks 6-2 Loss to the Blues
The Flames were coming off two high-scoring affairs against the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights, losing both games by a combined score of 15-5.
The Ducks remained without defensemen Radko Gudas and Pavel Mintyukov, along with forward Cutter Gauthier. Defenseman Tyson Hinds was recalled from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL prior to the game, and he made his NHL debut in this one.
Here’s how the Ducks lined up in this game:
Killorn-Carlsson-Sennecke
Kreider-Granlund-Terry
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McTavish-Poehling-Viel
Washe-Gaucher-Moore
LaCombe-Trouba
Hinds-Carlson
Zellweger-Helleson
Ville Husso got the start in the Ducks’ net and saved 15 of just 19 shots. He was opposed by Devin Cooley in the Calgary cage, who stopped 36 of 39.
Offensively, this was one of the Ducks’ better efforts in recent memory and their best on this recent skid. They were maintaining possession and generating above-average looks, at times, shift after shift.
Overaggression, high turnovers, and even bad bounces would spring Calgary’s wingers into the neutral zone on an odd-man rush or breakaway, where all four of their goals against Husso came from.
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At 5v5, the Ducks predictably controlled the numbers, winning the shots-on-goal battle 34-18, the shot-attempts battle 72-39, and the expected-goals battle 3.74-2.75.
“Definitely better than last night’s game. The breakaways and the odd-man breaks were preventable by basically knowing that’s what they’re going to do,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said following the game. “With a shot from our end, they take off, and all of a sudden, it’s free. That’s what got them going.
“Our first period wasn’t bad. They get breakaway after breakaway, and that was the big thing. And then we got going in the third with some possession, zone time, and opportunities. Something we’ve been fortunate with all year, it didn’t happen.”
Rush Defense: There was a clear concerted effort from forwards to play more aware and diligent when retreating back into their zone to defend a rush. Mistakes came from eager-to-pinch defensemen failing to read whether they had a high F3, or puck-carrying forwards failing to read whether their far-side defenseman had activated.
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If the scouting report suggested Calgary preferred to fly their wingers when pucks were turned over, or battles were created, as Quenneville stated postgame, defensemen would have benefited from playing a bit more conservatively on pucks they were unsure they could get to.
Tyson Hinds: Hinds played a whopping 23:22 TOI in his NHL debut, all at 5v5. From the drop of the puck, he was confident, active, and involved. He refused to allow opponents to remain in dangerous ice uncovered, and he refused to allow seams to open.
He made smart, efficient decisions on breakouts, which led to him and his partner, John Carlson, not having to spend much time deep in the defensive zone. For his play style, one couldn’t ask for a better debut, and he was a true impact player in every zone.
Cycle: Early, the Ducks were determined to funnel pucks toward Cooley from every angle, and when they didn’t make their way there, Anaheim was aggressive with their pinches and were first to several pucks that found their way to the perimeter.
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When Cooley was forced to make a save on those perimeter shots, his rebound control was impeccable. Pucks stuck to him, and he didn’t allow any flurries in tight. As the game wore on, the Ducks began controlling play with clever connecting passes, and at times, even forwent potential high-danger shot attempts. The majority of their truly dangerous 5v5 chances came off the rush.
The Ducks will have a couple of days off before their next game on Tuesday, when they’ll host the hungry Nashville Predators, who will be fighting for their playoff lives.
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