The Anaheim Ducks continued their five-game homestand on Sunday when they hosted the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs at Honda Center. The Ducks were coming off a dramatic 5-4 comeback victory over the New York Rangers on Friday. They were looking to eclipse the .500 mark on the 2024-25 season for the first time since March 4.
Game #73: Ducks vs. Maple Leafs Gameday Preview
The Maple Leafs entered this game on their second of a back-to-back and their third game in four nights after losing to the San Jose Sharks in a shootout 6-5 on Thursday and defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 on Saturday.
Jacob Trouba was forced out of Friday’s game with a lower-body injury after crashing into the end boards in the third period. He remained out of the Ducks lineup on Sunday and was replaced by Oliver Kylington, who had been acquired at the trade deadline for future considerations.
Kylington was paired with sophomore defenseman Olen Zellweger. The rest of the Ducks' forward lines and defensive pairs remained unchanged from Friday.
Lukas Dostal got his second start in a row in this game and saved 20 of the 23 shots he faced. He allowed goals on a backhand from the slot, a breakaway, and a perimeter shot that was tipped by an unguarded Steven Lorentz in front. He shouldn't be held responsible for any of those goals against.
Dostal was opposed by Joseph Woll, who stopped 29 of 31 shots.
“I thought we battled hard the whole game,” Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe said after the game. “We did a great job with our compete, our effort. They’re a really good team, and I thought we stuck with it the whole time, and they got a good bounce at the end with the tip. We just couldn’t get one back.”
Here are my notes from this game:
Forecheck-The Leafs did well to clog up the neutral zone and keep the Ducks from entering the offensive zone cleanly or with speed. The Ducks’ attackers did better to smartly dump pucks below the goal line and to places where they had a higher percentage to recover and ignite a cycle.
“We try to create a predictability when we crossed the red line and the blue line is jammed up and there are no plays to be made,” Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said after the game. “We try to get everyone connected off of dump-ins and that was working tonight for us.”
Radko Gudas-Gudas was the closest Duck in proximity to the puck when all three Leafs goals went in. He can be attributed direct responsibility for two of them: 1. Toronto’s first, where Max Domi froze Gudas on the rush, dragged the puck across the front of his body laterally and lifted a clever backhand over Dostal. 2. Toronto’s third, where he lost Lorentz back to the front from a corner battle and allowed him to screen Dostal before getting a tip on a shot from the half wall.
“It’s one of those games going either way and ironically, their fourth line goes out and scores the winning goal on a wrist shot from the wall and we just lost coverage at the net front,” Cronin said.
Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger-Now that the Ducks' two youngest defensemen aren’t playing under the looming threat of a potential extended periods as healthy scratches, the duo is playing far more open and free, willing to take chances when joining the rush, activating off of the offensive blueline, and even establishing pressure on a forecheck when their forwards are in the midst of a ...
