The Ducks begin a road-and-home back-to-back tonight in San Jose, facing off with the rival Sharks at SAP Center.
PUCK DROP: 7:30 P.M. | TV: BALLY SPORTS SOCAL | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER
Anaheim hits the road for a short trip up north, the first of three games in four nights this weekend, coming off a 4-2 loss to Nashville Sunday on home ice. Brett Leason brought the Ducks back within a goal that night with less than three minutes to go in regulation, but veteran winger Gustav Nyquist's empty-netter on the next shift eliminated any hopes of the latest dramatic Ducks comeback.
"We deserved a better fate, that hurts," head coach Greg Cronin said. "We played well. We killed four power plays...and we had better scoring chances. You've got two floater shots find their way in, it hurts. That's a game we could have won. I told the team, we played them two other to,es amd we probably played them better this game than we did the other two games and we won them."
The loss dropped the Ducks to 20-34-3 on the season and 2-5-1 since returning from the NHL All-Star Break earlier this month. It also denied the team a three-game season series sweep of the Preds, who currently hold the Western Conference's second Wild Card spot.
"We played 60 minutes, we played really well," Cronin said. "There were no lulls...I have no complaints with the way we competed or the consistency and the reliability of it.
"I think you go back to the effort and the compete level, the ability to get pucks and cycle pucks. We did a good job there. We defended well. There are a lot of good things to take out of it."
One of those good things was the strong night for Leason, who filled in admirably for the injured Troy Terry on Anaheim's second line with a two-point night. Along with the late goal and an assist on Max Jones' second-period breakaway, Leason finished with four shot attempts, four hits, two blocked shots and a +2 rating in 15:47 of ice-time.
"I feel like I fit in," Leason said of skating with Frank Vatrano and Mason McTavish. "I think we played fast together, knew where each other were going to be and had some good looks."
Meanwhile, Terry's status for Thursday night's game has not yet been announced. The two-time All-Star winger leads the Ducks in assists, co-leads in points and is tied for second in goals. He's collected eight points in his last five appearances and has seven multi-point efforts in his last 11 games.
With or without Terry, Anaheim and San Jose will cap a four-game season series tonight thus far controlled by the home teams. The Ducks grabbed a 4-1 win at Honda Center back in November behind a three-point night from Frank Vatrano, and also won 3-2 in overtime on home ice last month.
Since the loss in Orange County just prior to the All-Star Break, the Sharks have struggled to a 1-5-0 record after a 7-2 defeat to New Jersey on Tuesday.
"Give them credit, they did some things to force us," Sharks coach David Quinn told NHL.com's Chelena Goldman. "But we just gave them the puck over and over and over again. When you keep making plays and you don't care about the consequences, you're going to get a 7-2 loss."
San Jose is also now without the services of injured All-Star winger Tomas Hertl, who leads the team in points and co-leads in goals.
The Sharks sit eighth in the Pacific Division with a 15-37-5 record (35 points).
