The Ducks will begin a weekend back-to-back tonight with the season's second edition of the Freeway Face-Off, visiting the rival Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.
PUCK DROP: 7:30 P.M. | TV: BALLY SPORTS SOCAL | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER
Anaheim heads up north looking to bounce back from a roller coaster loss to Columbus Wednesday night on home ice. The Ducks erased a four-goal deficit late in the middle frame, but could not turn that into a comeback win in the third as two consecutive Blue Jackets goals 49 seconds apart would prove the difference.
"It's hard because I feel like we did a lot of good things," Troy Terry said. "Just, myself included, not managing pucks and not giving them odd-man rushes. It feels like we're playing good hockey for sustained periods of time and just mental mistakes here and there cost us. We hung the goalies out to dry. I was proud of how we battled, but we've just got to try and be more even-keeled."
The Ducks fell behind 3-0 after the first period despite largely controlling the pace of play and holding a 10-7 advantage in shots.
"I thought we controlled the puck most of it, and then we turn it over and give them an odd-man rush," head coach Greg Cronin said. "They took advantage of their chances and scored three goals. I think the mood on the bench was still pretty positive. I don't care who you are, what team you are, when you give up three goals on five or six chances in a period, it kind of stuns you a bit.
"Then to start the second period with a turnover behind the net, it makes it four. But, I think everybody kind of stayed calm. In the second period we started to get some momentum. I thought we were a little bit in kind of shock mode for the first ten minutes, then we came on. And again, we just gave pucks away in the third period and it costed us the game."
Anaheim's offensive resurgence in the second period Wednesday was again powered by the Mason McTavish, Frank Vatrano and Troy Terry. McTavish has multiple points in three of his last four games and is now second among team leaders in goals this season. Terry has been red-hot himself, with eight points in the last four games and seven multi-point efforts in his last 12 outings.
"I think it was a tough start to the year for me," Terry said. "I think less about the points and just how I'm playing and how I'm creating. That's what I try and focus on. Still trying to dial in some of the stuff, just making the right decisions at certain times, but I feel like I'm back to making plays consistently. Playing with McTavish and Vatrano], they're going to score a lot of the opportunities if they get them. So, that helps, to just
kind of see the production side."
The Ducks now turn their attention to their Southern California rival, hoping to even the Freeway Face-Off after LA's 5-2 win at Honda Center on Black Friday. The Kings have had a tumultous few months since then though and now find themselves fighting for playoff position, with a midseason losing skid leading to the team's dismissal of veteran head coach Todd McLellan and promotion of assistant Jim Hiller.
The Kings are now 5-2-0 under Hiller after a 4-1 loss to the Predators on Thursday.
“Give [Nashville] credit, they made it difficult,” Hiller told NHL.com's Dan Greenspan. “And so your execution has to be even a little bit better when you’re playing a team that checks you that well, and ours wasn’t, so that made it doubly hard.”
Los Angeles is fourth in the Pacific Division, currently holding the Western Conference's top Wild Card spot.
