The Ducks will have their final tune-up at home and second to last preseason outing on Wednesday when they will welcome the NHL’s newest franchise, sort of, to Honda Center.
Utah HC, the product of a slapdash relocation of the Arizona Coyotes, will turn off Katella Ave. for the second half of a back-to-back set after they posted a 3-1 record in the run-up to the regular season thus far. Meanwhile, the Ducks will be looking for their first exhibition victory since their opener in San Jose.
The Ducks further whittled down their group in camp on Tuesday morning, dropping to 18 forwards, 11 defensemen and three healthy goalies. That included three recently recovered players: defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, center Nathan Gaucher and winger Beckett Sennecke, this year’s third overall draft pick.
Early in camp, General Manager Pat Verbeek said he was unsure if Sennecke would start the year with the big club and possibly take a path similar to that of Tristan Luneau in the early part of last season or not. That decision, as well as murmurs of a potential Cam Fowler trade, the continued presence of two professional tryouts in camp and whether the Ducks carry 13 or 14 forwards are all moving parts that obfuscate exactly what the opening-night roster might look like.
Some of the Ducks’ veterans have yet to play their first preseason game, meaning these last two matches should integrate them and establish some concrete personnel looks for the early season.
“We’ve got to get some synergy with our lines,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said following a 4-0 loss to the Kings on Monday. “You’ve probably noticed we’re moving guys around from center to wing. We’ve got to get our D involved, Cam hasn’t played and Radko (Gudas) hasn’t played. We’ve got to get chemistry going.”
Utah has yet to experience issues with chemistry as they won their first-ever home game and two other matches thus far, including a 6-3 pounding of the Avalanche in Colorado on Sunday. In that contest, Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther combined for six points while flanking Barrett Hayton on a newly formed top line, and Tij Iginla made his NHL debut after recovering from a hip injury.
Cronin said that the Ducks’ recent pair of losses to the Kings –– the Ducks also lost to their crosstown rivals, 3-2, on Saturday in Ontario –– demonstrated some of what his club should emulate in terms of effortful shot-blocking and aggressive forechecking.
The Kings struck four times on Monday in a game that was nearly even in terms of shots on goal as a result of won puck battles and some lapses in defensive positioning by the goalless Ducks.
“It’s just learning, being in the situations,” said defenseman Brian Dumoulin, a two-time Stanley Cup champion who made his Ducks debut Monday. “You’re in those in practice, but once you get into a game, the plays are a lot quicker, those decisions –– whether to slide, whether to take a guy going to the net or whether to play the guy in the corner –– they’re a lot quicker. Maybe we just need those game reps.”