The Ducks will renew acquaintances with a longtime rival tonight on a special evening at Honda Center, hosting the San Jose Sharks for Anaheim's first Legacy Night celebration of its 30th Anniversary season.
PUCK DROP: 5 P.M. | TV: BALLY SPORTS SOCAL | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER | GET TICKETS
The first of three Legacy Nights this season will highlight the club's first decade (1993-94 to 2002-03) and includes a Paul Kariya bobblehead presented by UCI Health to the first 10,000 fans. For more information, click here.
On the ice, Anaheim will look to snap a two-game losing skid after previously rattling off six straight victories. The second of the consecutive setbacks came Friday on home ice, a bittersweet night as rookie Leo Carlsson scored his first career hat trick but the Ducks could not overcome an early three-goal deficit.
"You can't win hockey games turning pucks over," head coach Greg Cronin said. "We've been talking all about it all year, puck management. We played hard. The effort was there. We had the puck a lot.
"To me, you can take the game and dissect it all you want, analytically, scores, shots on goal, scoring chances. It's just like any sport. In football, a big stat is turnovers. Basketball, a big stat is turnovers. In hockey, it is too. We just turned it over repeatedly...Good teams, really good, mature teams just don't do that."
Trailing in the third period, Carlsson twice brought the Ducks back within two on setup feeds from Alex Killorn and Troy Terry, joining an exclusive NHL all-time list in the process. Just nine games into his NHL career, Carlsson became the 16th-youngest player in league history to score a hat trick, and the sixth-youngest over the last 30 seasons.
Carlsson’s hat trick was also the third by a Ducks rookie of any age, following Sam Steel and Bobby Ryan.
"He's going to be a star in this league," Cronin said. "He had a bit of a dip where he lost some energy [for a few games], but the last two games he's really skating. You can see it in him. He's got a pace to his game for a big guy that you don't see a lot in this league. Obviously, he has terrific hands and he's confident. It was nice to see [his hat trick]. He deserves it and he's going to keep getting better."
Carlsson has four goals on Anaheim's five-game homestand with three coming in the third period. He ranks second among all NHL rookies in goals (six) this season and tied for second among Ducks team leaders.
The Ducks will look to make it a winning homestand in tonight's finale, battling a beleagured Sharks squad that has ridden a hockey roller-coaster recently.
Currently 32nd in the NHL, and eighth in the Pacific Division, with five points (2-11-1) through 14 games, the Sharks became just the fourth team in league history to concede 10 goals in back-to-back games last week, and the first in nearly 60 years. The lopsided defeats seemed to rally the club though, as San Jose responded with tight victories over Philadelphia and Edmonton on home ice.
"This group has been through a lot, they've taken a lot of emotional punches to the gut," San Jose coach David Quinn said after the 2-1 triumph over Edmonton. "I'm pretty proud of our group for dusting themselves off and showing a lot of mental fortitude and toughness to put two good games together."
Vegas temporarily ended the fun for San Jose one later though, rolling to a 5-0 victory over the Sharks.
“Right from the get-go, we looked flat for sure,” Quinn told NHL.com's Paul Delos Santos. “Getting down again 2-0 certainly didn't help our cause. We were just half a step behind all night long.
“We defended way too much and weren't able to end plays. We're chasing the game really from the drop of the puck.”
The Ducks have had the better of the Sharks over the last two seasons, with wins in eight of the last 10 matchups between the California rivals. Anaheim owns a 75-68-16 all-time record against San Jose, including a 37-34-9 mark on home ice.
