ANAHEIM — Coach Joel Quenneville had options for Game 6 on Thursday night at Honda Center. He could have iced a lineup with 11 forwards, one less than is customary, and seven defenseman, one more than usual. He could have shuffled his lines dramatically to start the Ducks’ must-win game.
If the Ducks’ morning skate was an indication, then Quenneville was set to replace injured third-line center Ryan Poehling with a couple of tweaks for Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series. In the simplest terms, Jansen Harkins would replace Poehling in the lineup.
It appeared that it would be status quo for the Ducks’ top two lines, with center Leo Carlsson skating between left wing Chris Kreider and right wing Troy Terry and center Mikael Granlund skating between left wing Alex Killorn and right wing Beckett Sennecke, as it’s been in this series.
However, it looked as if Mason McTavish would shift from left wing to center to replace Poehling on the third line. Jeffrey Viel moved up from the fourth line to take McTavish’s spot and Cutter Gauthier skating on right wing. Harkins, Tim Washe and Ross Johnston made up the fourth line.
“Same as (Wednesday), we don’t know,” Quenneville said when asked for an update on Poehling’s condition, after he was forced from Game 5 on Tuesday after an illegal check from Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb near the midway point of the first period of the Ducks’ 3-2 overtime loss.
The NHL suspended McNabb for Game 6, citing his “late, forceful check, which caused an injury” to Poehling. The league also said in a video announcing McNabb’s suspension that Poehling was “a vulnerable player who was not eligible to be hit” after the puck was played away him.
It was McNabb’s first suspension.
The Ducks said Poehling suffered an unspecified upper-body injury.
McNabb received a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct at the nine-minute mark of the first period. Poehling lay prone on the ice for a time while he was examined by a Ducks athletic trainer, and he later needed assistance to reach the Ducks’ dressing room.
Poehling’s absence tested the Ducks’ depth for the remainder of Game 5 and for Game 6 and, if necessary, Game 7. Poehling had four goals and one assist in 11 playoff games after recording 11 goals and 25 assists in 75 regular-season games in his first season with the Ducks.
The Ducks sent forward Trevor Zegras, a fan favorite, to the Philadelphia Flyers to acquire Poehling and two draft picks on June 23. Among the Ducks, only Sennecke, with five, had more goals in the playoffs than Poehling, who was tied with four others with four going into Game 6.
“He’s a tremendous part of this team,” Washe said of Poehling, who spent three seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, one with the Pittsburgh Penguins and two with the Flyers before joining the Ducks. “We’ve got some guys stepping up here. Everybody’s got to be at their best and help the team out any way they can.”
ELIMINATION GAMES
The Ducks had nine players on their roster who had faced an elimination game in their careers, led by Kreider, who had a 20-10 record and had 16 goals and six assists in 30 prior elimination games. The Golden Knights, by contrast, had 22 players with elimination game experience.
“I think you try to come with an approach that, hey, this is an achievable goal,” said Quenneville, a three-time Stanley Cup champion as a coach with the Chicago Blackhawks. “Our objective is only getting more exciting, I think. As the playoffs grow, the excitement grows, the fun extends to a different level. You try to keep it to, ‘Let’s make this a great opportunity and a fun opportunity.’”
NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Who: Golden Knights at Ducks (down 3-2)
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Honda Center
TV: TNT, truTV, HBO Max