Preview: Moore to Make NHL Debut as Ducks Host Avs on Fan Appreciation Night

The Ducks will take the ice at Honda Center tonight for the final time this season, hosting the Colorado Avalanche on Fan Appreciation Night.

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The pregame fun begins with a special t-shirt giveaway for the first 10,000 fans in attendance, presented by Honda, with a select number of "golden" shirts indicating additional Ducks prizes for lucky fans. Continuing a Ducks tradition, a few lucky fans will win a Jersey Off The Back on the ice following the game from the players who wore them. In celebration of Fan Appreciation Night, all apparel excluding jerseys will be 30% off at the Anaheim Team Store and online at AnaheimTeamStore.com. Orange Alliance Members will enjoy a 50% discount on all apparel excluding jerseys. Fans following @AnaheimDucks on X will be encouraged to post requests during the game for concessions, merchandise, autographed items and more, and Ducks staffers will grant wishes to attendees throughout the night. For more information on Fan Appreciation Night, click here.

On the ice, Anaheim looks to close out its home slate with a sixth win in the last seven games at Honda Center. The Ducks own a 21-17-2 mark on home ice for the season, the club's best mark since the 2017-18 campaign, including three straight victories after Wednesday night's thrilling comeback over Calgary.

"It was awesome," Cutter Gauthier said of the atmosphere at Honda Center. "We didn't score any goals until late and the crowd was super hyped. They were supporting us from the start. It was great to see when we got the first goal how the place just erupted. It's definitely a fun atmosphere to play in and I was super happy we got the job done in overtime."

Despite the cathartic win, Anaheim would be unable to bring that found momentum on the road the following night, dropping a 6-1 decision to the rival LA Kings Thursday up the 5 Freeway.

"I said to the team after the second period, even though it was 4-1, these are the games that we have to get comfortable playing in," head coach Greg Cronin said. You can measure yourself in your compete level and your decisions with the puck, all of the things that are part of a playoff environment. When you win 1-on-1 battles on the wall and get to front of the other team's net, you're putting yourself in good position to be on the offensive side of the puck. I thought the Kings did a good job of that."

The loss in LA dropped Anaheim to 35-36-8 on the season with three games left to play. The Ducks can finish the year at a .500 record with wins in two of those games.

"We're trying to build on an identity," Cronin said. "We were in on the playoff race through the trade deadline. I think at one point we were five points back. That's where we wanted to be going back to talks in the summer time. Win, lose or draw, we're getting these young kids into these games and it's a different game. It's a different pace, a different intensity and a different battle level to it. It's critical they go through these games. It'll help them in the long run."

Another of those young kids arrives in Orange County tonight, as new Ducks defenseman Ian Moore is expected to make his NHL debut one day after inking his entry-level contract. The 23-year-old, a 2020 third-round selection, recently completed a four-year collegiate career at Harvard University before appearing in nine games with the San Diego Gulls.

"The Ducks have been really supportive of myself and my family as well over the past couple years," Moore said of his decision with Anaheim. "For the amount of time and effort they have invested in me and my development, I can't be more thankful for that. I'm excited for the opportunity they've given me now. I've been some great relationships with the staff and players, and it's a place I felt very comfortable. I'm fortunate to have this opportunity."

Moore's debut will come with a tough test too, as the Ducks face the playoff-bound Avalanche tonight skating in their season finale and gearing up for a first round series with the Dallas Stars. With the playoffs on their mind, Colorado held out star center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Devon Toews and Cale Makar from the club's lineup last night in LA, ultimately falling 5-4 to the Kings.

“Regardless of who was in the lineup tonight, I like the way we competed tonight,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told NHL.com's Dan Greenspan. “We certainly made a handful of mistakes that we didn’t like. But I think just like big picture, looking at the whole game, competitive, detail, we were involved physically, and I liked our skating tonight, so I thought we did a lot of good things.”

Colorado will face an old friend in the first round in Stars winger and former Av Mikko Rantanen, traded from the club earlier this year then as a pending free agent, but also appears close to welcoming back its captain, Gabriel Landeskog, to the lineup for the first time in three years. Landeskog, who has been sidelined with knee ailments since helping Colorado capture the 2022 Stanley Cup title, this week appeared in his first professional game since that playoff run with Colorado's AHL affiliate. His return to NHL action has not yet been announced.

“I've always tried to kind of stay present, live in the moment. Still going to do that,” Landeskog said to NHL.com's Ryan Boulding. “I don't want to look too far ahead, but I do know that I feel good today. Hopefully I feel good tomorrow and we can keep working and I can keep practicing, and we'll see where it takes us.”

Colorado (48-29-4, 100 points) will finish third in the Central Division and return to the postseason for the eighth straight year.