Preview: Ducks Eager to be Back in Action Tonight vs. NYR

The Ducks begin a busy weekend full of hockey, tonight taking on the New York Rangers at Honda Center (7 p.m.; TV: Bally Sports SoCal; Radio: AM 830 KLAA). Anaheim sits second in the Pacific Division (18-11-7, 43 points) with points in 11 of their last 14 games (7-3-4).
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Anaheim has not played since a 4-1 victory over Philadelphia at Honda Center on Tuesday night. The Ducks prepared to take on Detroit Thursday before the game was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
"To me it comes down to circumstance and choice," Eakins said. "Thursday] was our circumstance and how we handle it is important. Our mindset as a team has been excellent and [Thursday] was a great day to see our players put that on display. No one was rattled. Everyone was all business. We got the news and we started preparing for Saturday's game."
As it has been for the past few games with the challenges of the pandemic and the normal wear-and-tear of an NHL season, Anaheim's lineup remains to be seen. The Ducks currently have seven players in COVID-19 protocol and another three out due to injuries.
"We're hopeful we can get guys to test back in," Eakins said. "We're hopeful we won't pop any more positives. We're hopeful that we can get doing what we love doing, and that's compete, against the Rangers [Saturday] night."
With players in and out of the lineup, Eakins said the Ducks are working on maintaining their system of play and keeping a close eye on the details that will make them successful, taking a training-camp like approach after the time away from the ice.
"We just spoke about leading into training camp. During camp, we always take the approach here of all of our systems stuff," Eakins said. "We wouldn't do all of it, but we'd take a section of it. Let's say it's your forecheck, your control forecheck and your neutral zone forecheck. When players walk into this building, that's what they see on the TVs here. It just keeps rolling and there's verbiage on the video. It stops and says here's where this forward goes. It's like this loop of teaching video...Moving forward, over the next few weeks, that's what the players are going to start seeing when they walk in. If we cannot get physical reps, then we will get mental reps."
The Ducks were able to welcome back forward Trevor Zegras to practice yesterday, and the rookie could play tonight for the first time since before the holiday break. Zegras led all NHL rookies in scoring and assists in December en route to earning league
[Rookie of the Month honors
.
With netminder John Gibson unavailable, Anthony Stolarz projects to man the crease for Anaheim against Detroit. Stolarz has won a career-best six straight starts, including two shutouts, with a 1.42 goals against average (GAA) and .951 save percentage (SV%). Stolarz ranks sixth among NHL netminders in GAA (2.13) and SV% (.932).
New York has enjoyed a terrific start to the 2021-22 season, emerging as one of the NHL's breakout teams and sitting second in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind first-place Carolina.
The Rangers visit Anaheim looking to bounce back though after beginning a five-game road trip with a 5-1 setback Thursday in Vegas, snapping their three-game winning streak. Massachusetts native Chris Kreider scored the lone goal for New York in the loss, his 21st of the season, moving him into a tie with Anaheim's Troy Terry for third among league leaders.
Anaheim and New York will conclude their two-game season series on Mar. 15 at Madison Square Garden.