Two months into NHL play, the Anaheim Ducks are looking to cement themselves as true contenders in the Western Conference. Anaheim welcomed in the Utah Mammoth and the Washington Capitals to the Honda Center this week looking to overcome an inconsistent spell of performances over the last few weeks where the Ducks have traded wins and losses for the last eight games.
The homestand had a rough start on Wednesday, however, when the Ducks lost to the Utah Mammoth 7-0. This home defeat for Anaheim snapped Utah’s four-game losing streak and marked their first shoutout win and largest margin of victory of the season. For the Ducks, the loss marked their first shutout and their largest loss of the season so far.
With starting goaltender Lukas Dostal out, backup goalie Ville Husso allowed four goals on 21 shots through the first two periods before he was replaced by goalie Vyacheslav Buteyets, who was a much needed bright spot in the defeat for the Ducks, stopping 10 out of 13 shots in his NHL debut.
Captain defenseman Radko Gudas was not pleased with the performance of his team. “We want to hold ourselves to the highest possible standard,” Gudas said after the game. ”We think highly of ourselves. We want to be better every day and this wasn’t the case today.”
Gudas later added that he was still optimistic about the Ducks however. “This is a long season, so we need to go step after step and try to put together a full 60 (minutes).
The Ducks tried to shake off Wednesday’s loss to Utah on Friday night against the high-flying Washington Capitals in a packed Honda Center. The Ducks bounced back, beating the current Eastern Conference top seed 4-3 in a shootout victory. The Ducks also snapped Washington’s league best six-game winning streak.
The game was headlined from performances by forwards Troy Terry and Mason McTavish, who scored in the shootout to give the Ducks the win. Forward Cutter Gauthier also scored on the night.
Rookie forward Beckett Sennecke also continued his sensational start to the season scoring a goal and an assist against Washington. With his goal tonight, Sennecke took the NHL’s rookie scoring lead, a sign that Ducks fans will be more than happy to see from their 2024 first round selection.
Friday’s game also marked the long-awaited return of new addition forward Mikael Granlund, who had missed 18 of the Ducks’ previous 19 games with a lower-body injury.
Husso, once again standing in for starting goalie Dostal, also had a real bounce back performance on Friday night. Husso made 18 saves on the night against one of the top ranked offenses in the NHL and stopped two of three attempts in the shootout, ultimately winning the game for the Ducks.
Forward Ross Johnson was delighted with the Ducks’ bounce back performance on Friday night.
“[The] response was huge,” Johnson said. “7-0, you never want to lose a game like that. We bounced back and fought hard.”
The Ducks will continue to create more separation in the pacific division from the second place Las Vegas Golden Knights when they continue their homestand on Sunday night against the Chicago Blackhawks.