Q&A: Terry Talks About What's Going Right for the Ducks in These Playoffs

Although the Ducks have an eye-opening 13 players taking part in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time, no one was more overdue to experience the magic of the postseason than Troy Terry. The 28-year-old winger is in his eighth full season in Anaheim -- after being taken by the Ducks in the fifth round of the 2015 NHL Draft -- and hadn't been part of a playoff team until this spring. 

He's taken full advantage, scoring three goals, handing out six assists and earning a +4 rating (each tied for second on the team) in eight games as the Ducks rolled to a First Round victory over Edmonton and head into Game 3 vs. Vegas deadlocked at a game apiece. 

From his Newport Beach home, Terry spent some time talking about what's clicked for the Ducks so far in this postseason, how the team has come together, his teammate Leo Carlsson and other topics. 

On the camaraderie of this Ducks team
I think we've always had a really close group, just being, you know, good friends, and we just have a bunch of great guys. You make bonds with people when you kind of go to battle, as we call it, just playing in these hockey games, and I think that intensity and that bond, a lot of us are going through it together for the first time, and to be able to win against Edmonton in that round, and just kind of this whole experience is just kind of bringing us all together. I don't know if there's really necessarily one person driving it or what, but I think what you're seeing, you can feel in our room, just how much we're coming together. 
Just as this run, this time of year, I mean, everyone's happy, whether it's a blocked shot, whether it's a hit, a goal, whatever it is, you can just feel the camaraderie on the bench right now.

On how his and the team's physicality has ramped up in the postseason 
Yeah, thank you for noticing, I'm glad someone's noticing now, you know? [Laughs] All of us have just been so hungry for this opportunity, and we were all well aware of what it would take to be successful in the playoffs. Everyone's situation's a little different, whether it's different things that they're doing now, or bringing to the table, or, whatever it is. You never really know until you get in those positions, but I could go down the list of guys of things maybe that isn't their strong suit, or whatever it is, and guys are just really doing whatever is necessary right now, whether it's, taking a back seat offensively to make sure they're in the right positions defensively, or hitting or blocking shots, just all of that stuff. No one wants to be the guy not doing those little details right now, and that's just a testament to our group. You never know what it's gonna be like till you get in this position, and the way that our team is, just being a young team, especially the way that everyone's just bought into all of those little details. It's just infectious, and it's been fun to be a part of.

On the team's attention to defense
For the most part, we haven't had trouble scoring this year. We're very deep in terms of guys that can produce and score. But I just think the attention to defense has been evident, especially in this series, just the first two games, and it's just leading to more possession time. The two teams, there's definitely a lot of differences between how they play and how the games are taking shape, and there's definitely been a lot less rush opportunities against Vegas. They're very structured, they're very good at being above the puck. But that being said, I think our play in the offensive zone and holding on to pucks and not being kind of one and done in the offensive zone, and forcing plays and all that, I think has gotten a lot better in this series. I'm proud of the group for so many reasons, but another one is just, yeah, the rush game hasn't quite been there as much, and still we're able to find ways to produce offensively.

On Leo Carlsson
I think Leo, even from his first year in the league, his issue was maybe just consistency. As all young players, it is. But even his first year in the league, you could just see every third night or whatever, he'd be the best player on the ice by a mile. And then he's had another two years in the league, and then going into this year, just the confidence that he brought to start this year, and how consistent he has been. I know he's getting a lot of attention and credit, and the same can go to Jackson LaCombe, but it's shocking that he doesn't get more. It doesn't matter who we're playing, -- McDavid, Eichel -- he always stands out to me as just dominant, and the difference now is he's doing it consistently. I mean, we're seeing it in the playoffs. Knock on wood, I don't think he's had a bad game in the playoffs. He's just been that good. I think the biggest thing that's impressing me right now is this 200-foot game, too, and you're seeing that on even the goal last night. There's been a couple goals where it's him carrying the puck up the ice like he's always had the natural ability to do, but it's starting with him disrupting a play on our own end, and he's really just playing a 200-foot game.

On Carlsson developing into a leader 
Yeah, he's talking a lot more, you can see just, when you're one of the premier players in the NHL, it definitely gives you confidence in the room, and I'm really proud of him, of how he's coming into that role. Even if he's not talking, it's just the way that he plays the game. Like I said, he's not just cheating for offense, he's playing a 200-foot game, and he's really just leading by example right now.

On a relatively young team showing its maturity 
I think you saw that, even through the year, we would go through, 9-game win streaks, and then 9-game lose streaks, and just so many different lessons to be learned. At times this year, we weren't necessarily absorbing all the lessons, but now that, I think we've proven how good our A game is, you're just seeing
in the playoffs, just the details to be consistent each night, whether we have our A game or not, we didn't know how much it would, translate into the playoffs, just the maturity of our team, and that's what I've been most proud of. It's just how mature our team's been in some of these games, and the things that maybe plagued us during the regular season were really ratcheting down on a lot of this stuff and playing complete games.

We obviously do have a lot of youth, and guys going through this the first time, like myself, but we do have guys that have won Stanley Cups and been through long playoff runs and done it all, so I think it's kind of just learning on the fly. I think back to the first period of our first game in the playoffs, and just how far we've come to how we played Game 1 in Vegas. Through a mix of leaders, obviously an experienced coaching staff, just all of that. I think you're just seeing a team kind of learning on the fly of what works, what doesn't work in the playoffs, and how we need to play, and that's kind of the exciting thing. We have a lot of room to even keep getting better.