Duck Hawked Down

By Eddie Richard

The Anaheim Ducks (23-38-3) are attempting to snap a two-game losing streak earning their first post-deadline win against the Chicago Blackhawks (17-43-5). The Ducks have been outscored 12-3 in their last two games since the NHL trade deadline. The Blackhawks are 1-1 in their last two post-deadline teams.

John Gibson and Petr Mrazek would get the starts for their respective teams. Max Jones was out with an illness, so Pavol Regenda was recalled. William Lagesson made his Ducks debut.

Game Summary:

The first period had a slow start for the Ducks. The Hawks were the more dominant team. The Ducks made the Hawks seem like an almost playoff team.  Olen Zellweger had the most step to his game driving some offense and flying everywhere on the ice. 

Alex Killorn, who has been heating up as of late, took the game’s first penalty getting a holding call. A broken play led to a shorthanded two-on-one which saw Brett Leason score his ninth of the year. Ryan Donato would quickly strike back on the power play giving the Hawks a 1-1 time. The Hawks would control the first outshooting the Ducks 18-9.  

Leason would regain the lead for the Duck when he scored his tenth of the season in less than two minutes into the second period. The Blackhawks would be going on a goal surge and score the next three unanswered goals to give a two-goal lead despite being outshot 15-6. The Ducks did not capitalize on the only full man advantage and got into penalty trouble taking three minor one’s in a row. If you have read this far then retweet this original post and we will pick a random fan to send you a signed Ducks puck.  

It would take all of three minutes until the Hawks would extend their lead by three and completely ran away with the game. They would score another three goals to make it six unanswered goals to give them the ultimate 7-2. The only satisfaction came when the Ducks and Gibson got fired up and decided to beat that… literally.  See below for the best of the third: 

The good, the bad and ugly:

The good: Mason McTavish leading the passion fueled physicality. The rest of the team, including Gibson, got fired up for the first time in the last three games.

The bad: After being blown out in their last two games, the Ducks still seem to give zero “ducks” when the puck dropped.

The ugly: Being outscored 19-5 in the Ducks last three games.

Analysis:

It did not matter when the Ducks held two different leads. This game was lost before the puck was even dropped. After being destroyed in their last two games, the Ducks did not seem to be engaged in this game. This was a tale of two bottom feeder teams scoring in different directions. The Hawks would bury the Arizona State Coyotes 7-4 and the Ducks would drop their last two by a total score 12-3. The Ducks seemed to be checked out before the puck even dropped.

It seems like the Ducks’ biggest heart and souls of the team were Sam Carrick and Adam Henrique. They did not look the same after the deadline and the common denominator was the mentioned players that were traded. One of the biggest positives I took from this game was the last minute “melee” led by Mason McTavish. The keyword is “led’ as in Leader. I will discuss that on our next podcast so be sure to listen.

Next Game:

The Ducks continue their road trip and will take on the Minnesota Wild Thursday at 5 PM.

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March 13th, 2024