Kings, Ducks take their rivalry to San Diego for night
A trip down the 5 Freeway to play the Ducks is old hat for the rival Kings, but tonight's preseason tilt will put a few more miles on their rides as the dispute between neighbors will spill over into San Diego's Pechanga Arena.
The Ducks have turned in a spotless 3-0 preseason thus far, most recently besting the San Jose Sharks by identical 4-2 tallies on backto-back nights. The Kings are fresh off a comeback from their younger contingent powered by an Akil Thomas hat trick that allowed them to knock off a decidedly more experienced opponent, the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights, 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday.
Thomas got them to OT and Tyler Madden scored the winner, but a mid-game hit from Hayden Hodgson that sent Vegas captain Mark Stone hard into the end boards was also a focal point on the night and something of a momentum shifter in the game.
“You need moments like that and plays like that, too. We just looked at it. It was a very clean, good hit. Solid hit. And they didn't like it and we scored right after,” said Ontario Reign coach Marco Sturm, who has run the Kings stateside during Todd McLellan's travels to and from Australia.
Stone, who has battled back issues and other injuries that limited him to just 80 of a possible 164 games over the past two seasons, was visibly upset during the ensuing melee, including a moment where he grabbed hold of rookie defenseman Brandt Clarke and screamed in his face. After the game, Stone's message regarding the aggression of Hodgson, a minorleaguer who checked a star player hard in an exhibition game, was decidedly more measured.
“That's probably the last time I'll ever play against that guy. Not really much of a player, so I'll leave it at that,” Stone said.
Of Clarke, Stone said he was simply looking for any recognizable name among the aspiring group on the ice, which toppled a melange that included not only Stone but also Jack Eichel, Alex Pietrangelo, Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Marchessault and other established veterans.
“I think I scared him a little, didn't I? Honestly, I was looking around for some of their talented players and trying to run at them and he was really the only one,” Stone said.
The Kings will be icing more of their mainstays soon with the Australia trip behind them, Clarke recovered from a minor shoulder injury and seemingly everyone being in the fold with the possible exception of defenseman Matt Roy, who was dealing with an illness Thursday. Barring injury, positional battles hardly abound on a roster that could be written confidently in ink, though they'll likely continue to vary exhibition lineups, especially with another game in San Jose on Saturday night.
On the opposing bench, the Ducks are more in the mode of ascertaining who their regulars might be. The prolonged absences of budding cornerstones Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale due to ongoing contract talks have opened ice time for No. 2 overall pick Leo Carlsson to center the top line, for Owen Zellweger to shine on the blue line, for last year's lottery pick Pavel Mintyukov to make his case for a roster spot, for newly acquired veterans to get acclimated and for seemingly everyone to get a bit longer look. Mason MacTavish has also been injured, leaving three sizeable voids in the lineup.
That hasn't been a huge hindrance, however, as the Ducks have gone 3-00, with Wednesday's victory coming in large part because of Lukas Dostal's Herculean performance in goal. His 47-save performance, including 12 of 13 shots while shorthanded on a night when the Ducks struggled to avoid the penalty box, proved an effective deodorant.
Zellweger and coach Greg Cronin were both critical of some elements in the Ducks' game, with Zellweger pointing to improving breakouts and extending offensive zone time and Cronin saying his team was “fortunate” to have won a game in which they appeared “a step slow.”
“It's amazing what a position does in a sport,” Cronin said. “You take a quarterback in football, and a goalie in hockey. Your goalie is that good, he gives a chance to win, so, high grades for him.”
After tonight's tilt, the Ducks will return to action Sunday with a matinee visit to the Arizona Coyotes.