The Ducks will open their four-game homestand the same way they began their five-game road trip, by facing the Seattle Kraken, on Friday.
Though they scraped just two goals in two games from their stay in Seattle, high-octane forward Trevor Zegras was just returning from a two-month absence following ankle surgery and rookie defenseman Olen Zellweger dressed in just one of the two games.
In the Ducks’ past two outings, a squeaker they lost in Vancouver followed by a victory in Calgary that was their ninth game with five goals or more this season, “Z” and “Zelly” have illuminated the Ducks’ attack. Zegras has recorded an assist in each appearance while Zellweger followed up his first NHL goal with a three-assist performance.
Zellweger’s ability to squeeze pucks through to the slot and netfront factored into the Ducks’ first two goals, creating a deflection tally for Mason McTavish and a carom to Troy Terry for a no-doubt marker. Zellweger’s seeing-eye shots are often created by his ability to utilize his edges, change gears and otherwise employ his many strengths as a skater.
“Olen has dynamic quickness and turning, so he is able to escape forecheckers when breaking out of our zone,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said via text. “That lateral quickness also gives him the ability to move across the offensive blue line and shoot or pass while being a moving shooting threat.”
Zellweger fed Zegras off the rush before Zegras made a brilliant backhand dish through a well-positioned Martin Pospisil to find Cam Fowler for the Ducks’ third goal in what became a 5-3 win over the Flames after Terry and Alex Killorn connected for a pair of goals late.
“Zegras has elite hockey IQ. He sees plays develop before everyone else on the ice, including his teammates,” Cronin said. “He has the skill to execute the passes through skates and sticks, which was evident on Cam’s goal.”
Terry’s tally was his 20th of the season, earning him his third straight 20-goal campaign, and Killorn now has 17. The season has been anything but linear for either player, with both men surmounting multiple injuries and significant adjustments. Killorn moved from an exemplary culture that won Stanley Cups in Tampa Bay to a rebuilding franchise, while Terry was asked to overhaul his offensive approach under Cronin, who took the helm over the summer.
McTavish did not finish the match against the Flames, which the Ducks also played without defensemen Radko Gudas and Pavel Mintyukov. Thursday was a team day off so no definitive medical updates were provided.
Next up, they’ll try to improve their results in the final meeting of the season against a Kraken squad that beat the Ducks twice in Seattle recently and at Honda Center on Dec. 23. The Ducks are the only team that the Kraken, who’d lost eight straight before shutting out the Ducks 4-0 on March 26, has defeated three times this season. Seattle’s most recent affair saw it eliminated mathematically from the postseason after they fell 5-2 to the Kings behind a hat trick by Trevor Moore.
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After not only making the playoffs but knocking off the defending Stanley Cup champion, the Colorado Avalanche, the Kraken have fallen to earth.
Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers is on pace to plummet from 57 points in 2022-23 to just 36 in 2023-24, with veterans Vince Dunn and Jordan Eberle also among those whose production tailed off this season. Dave Hakstol’s club has remained stout defensively, however, allowing the seventh-fewest goals five-on-five in the NHL and the ninth fewest goals overall.
Seattle at Ducks
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Honda Center
TV: KCOP (Ch. 13)