LAS VEGAS — The coaching chess match is frequently one of the most intriguing parts of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Matching lines, breaking up lines or defense pairs and/or putting lines or defense pairs together can often mean the difference between winning and losing.
Ducks coach Joel Quenneville and Vegas Golden Knights counterpart John Tortorella will no doubt make moves and countermoves as their best-of-seven second-round playoff series continues. It’s as much a part of postseason hockey as playoff beards and fibbing about the severity of injuries.
Going into Game 1 on Monday night, though, Quenneville was cagey when asked how he might alter the makeup of the lineup or how he might adjust the Ducks’ style of play when facing an opponent they hadn’t faced since recording a 4-3 victory on Feb. 1 at Honda Center.
“You want to play to your strengths,” he said. “I thought we matched up well in the last series (while defeating the Edmonton Oilers in six games). It was a big challenge and I thought we did well. As you go, there are more little details you add to your game and play them consistently.
“But we don’t want to change the way we play the game.”
When asked about matching wits with Tortorella, the Knights’ well-traveled and occasionally volatile coach, Quenneville said, “I’m not worried about the other coach as much as I’m worried about our own team. But we expect (Vegas) to be competitive and to be ready.”
CHESS (PART 2)
A peek at Quenneville’s playoff history reveals at least one strategic move that paid massive dividends, propelling the Chicago Blackhawks past the Ducks and into the Stanley Cup Final in 2015. He paired Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane on their top line for Game 7.
And it wreaked havoc on the ice for the Ducks.
Quenneville double-shifted Toews and Kane to start the winner-take-all game, forcing Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau to either double-shift Ryan Kesler, who had shadowed Toews everywhere but the team bus during the first six games, or make a move he didn’t want to make.
Boudreau and Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf grew antsy on the bench and so Boudreau pulled Kesler off Toews and sent Getzlaf onto the ice. It was a series-changing mistake. Toews scored two goals and Kane had three assists to spark the Blackhawks’ 5-3 victory on May 30, 2015.
Chicago went on to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games for its third Cup title in a six-year stretch.
GUDAS SKATES
Ducks captain Radko Gudas skated with his teammates Monday morning for only the second time since playing in Game 1 of their first-round victory over the Oilers. He also skated during Saturday’s practice at Honda Center after sitting out the final six games of the opening round.
Quenneville said Gudas, who has been sidelined by a lower-body injury, could rejoin the lineup later in the second round.
“He’s doing better,” Quenneville said. “I know that, after talking to him after the skate today, he feels that he’s much better than when he started the last series. He’s in a better place and more than ready to help us at some point.”