IRVINE — These playoffs have been full of firsts for the Ducks.
Their first postseason berth in eight campaigns.
Their first playoff win and first series win in nine years.
And, now, their first time facing elimination.
They’ll joust with the Golden Knights on Thursday night at Honda Center in Game 6 of their best-of-seven, second-round series, which they trail 3-2 following Tuesday’s overtime loss on the Vegas Strip.
This is where Joel Quenneville, the four-time Stanley Cup champ and big-ticket coach whose reputation was in disrepair when they hired him, will earn every cent of his paycheck.
“He’s got a great feel for the game in terms of the lines and matchups he creates. It’s very inspiring. We’ve done a really good job when we have a bad (result) of responding,” said winger Alex Killorn, who won two Cups of his own in Tampa Bay and lost in two additional Final series, including one to Quenneville’s Chicago Blackhawks in 2015.
That same year, the ‘Hawks were in the exact same situation as the Ducks find themselves today, trailing none other than the Ducks 3-2 in the conference finals. Jonathan Toews tied Game 5 with 38 seconds left in regulation, even later than Olen Zellweger tallied on Tuesday, but then Matt Beleskey scored 45 seconds into OT, much as Pavel Dorofeyev did for Vegas.
“I’ve been on both sides of the equation in probably every number or sequence of a series,” said Quenneville, whose Blackhawks also climbed out of a 3-1 hole against Detroit in 2013 en route to a championship. “(In 2015), it was a comparable game to last night. We were down in Game 5 and tied it up late, and then lost on the first shift of the overtime, I think it was. It reminded me of last night’s game, which is why I (mentioned) it, but there’s still a lot of hockey left.”
Quenneville and Killorn emphasized enthusiasm and alacrity, with Killorn cautioning against attention to detail transforming into something more obsessive.
“Teams that are hesitant or worried about making mistakes typically aren’t aggressive and don’t make plays,” Killorn said.
In four of five games during this series, the Ducks have scored two goals or fewer against Vegas goalie Carter Hart. That has been problematic for a team that often outscored its issues this season and postseason.
Quenneville said he would need more juice from his top line, where Leo Carlsson has been flanked by Troy Terry and Chris Kreider.
Terry has been playing through injury since well before the end of the regular season. Kreider has also appeared limited, especially on Tuesday when the reputed big-game performer had two failed clears that led to Dorofeyev goals, an early equalizer and OT winner.
The game within the game has been intense in this series, with the most visible incident unfolding in Game 5. Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb came across the neutral zone to drill Ducks center Ryan Poehling into the boards, after which Poehling left the ice with noodly legs and considerable assistance.
Poehling is “out” for Game 6, Quenneville confirmed, and his status seems doubtful for a potential Game 7 as well. Quenneville said he was still pondering whether to sub in a forward – perhaps Jansen Harkins or Frank Vatrano – or perhaps dress a seventh defenseman.
McNabb was assessed a major penalty and issued a game misconduct, leaving Vegas down a defender. He was additionally given a disciplinary hearing with the NHL, indicating a likely suspension for one half of the Knights’ top pairing.
“He’s a guy that eats a lot of minutes for them, so if he’s going to be out, they’re going to have put someone in there that probably doesn’t have as much experience,” Killorn said. “You just want to make it hard on them, even last night when they had five ‘D,’ we tried to do everything in our power to keep them going back (for pucks) and to be physical.”
Another Cup winner on the Ducks, defenseman and trade-deadline pickup John Carlson, is playing in his 15th postseason, a body of work that includes a 2018 triumph with the Washington Capitals. Though he was a relative newcomer to the group, he expressed confidence in a team that’s very light on experience outside of himself, Killorn, Kreider and Jacob Trouba.
“We’ve never thrown in the towel,” said Carlson of a club yet to lose consecutive playoff games. “We’ve shown that resiliency in our game and in our series, so I think that’s what we can draw from and have that positivity going into a big game on home ice, and that’ll present some great things for us.”
NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Who: Vegas at Ducks (down 3-2)
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Honda Center
TV: TNT, truTV, HBO Max