To begin their three-game Western Canada road trip, the Anaheim Ducks traveled to British Columbia to take on the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday evening. 

The Ducks were coming off a 6-3 comeback victory over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, hoping to return to a .500 record, and looking to avenge an overtime loss to Vancouver a week ago in which the Ducks surrendered a three-goal lead of their own late in the game.

Takeaways from the Ducks 6-3 Win over the Senators

Ducks Place Nick Jensen on Waivers

The Canucks entered on a three-game losing streak and were trying to earn just their fourth win of the year. 

Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Ducks placed forward AJ Greer on IR after sustaining an upper-body injury late in Sunday’s game against the Sens. His roster spot was filled by prospect Nico Myatovic, who made his NHL debut and was inserted into the lineup in Greer’s spot alongside Tim Washe and Sam Colangelo on the listed third line.

The rest of the lineup remained unchanged for the Ducks. Here’s how they lined up to start this one:

Killorn-Carlsson-Caulfield

Gauthier-Granlund-Sennecke

Myatovic-Washe-Colangelo

Malott-McQueen-Nesterenko

Lacombe-Helleson

Mitchell-Luneau

Mintyukov-Warren

Laurent Brossoit got the start for the Ducks in net and saved 19 of the 23 shots he faced in this game. He was opposed by Kevin Lankinen, who stopped 17 of 22. 

This game was relatively even from a 5v5 shot and chance perspective, but once again, the Ducks’ power play and star power were able to paper over a handful of defensive blunders enough to earn Anaheim two points in this one. 

Game Notes

Power Play: Anaheim’s top unit continues to scorch, scoring on all three attempts in this game. The top unit continues to grow more cohesive, creative, and deadly. They have several go-to plays for various situations, but it’s their ability to score in a variety of ways that makes all five players truly dangerous at all times.

They opened the scoring with a low-to-high-to-middle sequence that found its way to Granlund in the bumper from Sennecke at the bottom of the circle. After that goal was scored, when Sennecke had the puck at the bottom of the circle, the Vancouver PK collapsed on him, which then opened up the lane from Sennecke to Gauthier at the top of the circle, where he scored two of his three goals. 

Defensive Zone Coverage: It was clear that after their last meeting, Vancouver identified point shots and heavy traffic as a way to exploit Anaheim’s pressure-zone system, as the Ducks encourage stepping out, eliminating the short side, and blocking shots, rather than battling for position with the net-front attacker.

Until the Canucks’ fourth goal, Anaheim did a much better job of actually blocking those shots after passes went from d-to-d along the blueline, a key facet in the determination of the system’s success. Rookie defenseman Noah Warren, in particular, has taken well to the system and is properly judging how aggressive to be toward the shooter and knowledgeable of his positioning, so that his goaltender can have the best chance of seeing a shot or he himself can block it. 

Nico Myatovic: Myatovic played just 10:34 TOI in this game, mostly due to the Ducks’ reliance on the top-six and 9:02 of this game being played on special teams. He played a dependable forechecking and defensive game, which was to be expected. Numbers reflect his minutes were low-event, but he flashed moments of effectiveness on the forecheck, disrupting multiple retrievals and providing some explosive backchecking routes. 

Penalty Kill: Leo Carlsson has been inserted on the Ducks’ second penalty kill unit of late, and in this game, he led Ducks forwards in PK TOI with 3:29. He struggled when he played the role a year ago, often overcommitting to the perimeter and cheating for offense a bit, alongside Troy Terry. However, through his brief stint in the role this season, he’s more calculated with his challenges, utilizing his length and explosion to close time and space. 

He’s translating his ability to read pucks out of battles to not only gain possession for his club, but kill 10-15 seconds at a time and provide some counter-offense in the process, as displayed by his shorthanded goal in this game. He needed to progress into a more refined 200-foot product in his fourth year in the NHL, and the early returns are promising. 

The Ducks will next head to Alberta for a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday, beginning with a matchup against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday at 5 pm PST.

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