The Ducks had a successful week on the East Coast skid, defeating both the Nashville Predators and Boston Bruins in dominant fashion.
After falling to the Blackhawks in Chicago to open up the road trip on Saturday, the Ducks bounced back Tuesday night in Nashville, beating the Predators 5-2.
Although the Predators are winless, Anaheim had to battle adversity to win. Forward Ross Johnson showed out for the Ducks, netting a goal and two assists, while forward Cutter Gauthier scored the tiebreaker in the third period.
The Ducks’ 2024 first-round pick Beckett Sennecke also had a great showing and continued his hot start to the season by netting a goal in the third period to make it 4-2. Forward Troy Terry also scored his first goal of the season.
Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville liked his team’s resilience.
“[Nashville] had a push there in the last couple minutes of the second [period],” Quenneville said. “A couple of saves and a couple of fortunate bounces, but I liked the third period when we had a lead. We didn’t know how we were going to respond to the lead. I thought we were pretty sound after that.”
The Ducks kept their momentum on Thursday night and bested the Bruins in a heated TD Garden.
The Ducks were once again led by their offense, most notably by offseason addition Mikael Granlund, who scored two goals and recorded three assists. Forward Nikita Nesterenko notched a career-high four points on the night, and with performances like this, he’s evolved into a true team leader.
The Ducks’ offense shone bright once more under Quenneville, totaling 24 goals in seven games.
The Ducks’ defense continued to show worrying signs again in Boston, though, giving up five goals to a Bruins team in the midst of a losing streak.
“We’ve got to clean it up,” Granlund said.
After giving up two early goals to a weak-looking Nashville team, combined with giving up five to Boston, the Ducks need to tighten up on defense if they want to continue winning games, especially on the road.
Now midway through a five-game East Coast road trip, the Ducks look to keep themselves in the win column when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.,