Ducks ready for a challenge with McDavid, Oilers in town
Most teams struggling for victories and goals alike might seek a soft landing, but the Ducks neither had nor desired a cushy opponent to conclude the calendar year.
They'll welcome Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers tonight, ringing in 2024 with a club that turned an early 2-1 deficit into an 8-2 romp in their favor north of the border on Nov. 26.
Yet overall, the Ducks have often risen to the occasion against top competition. Of their 13 victories this season, which represent the fourth fewest in the NHL, nine have come against teams in a playoff position.
That included a win against the Boston Bruins, who set the single-season records for both wins and points last season, and two against the Vegas Golden Knights, who hoisted the Stanley Cup last spring.
The numbers on every board when preparing for Edmonton are 97 and 29, those of McDavid and Draisaitl, who have combined to capture each of the past four scoring titles and six of the past seven.
“We have to figure out ways to slow those guys down, they have two of the best players in the world and that presents its own challenges,” Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said. “We'll have to come in with the right frame of mind and the right approach on
Today: Oilers at Ducks, 5p.m., BSSC
Sunday. It's another opportunity for us and a new challenge, and we'll be ready for that.”
Edmonton was eliminated in consecutive campaigns by the eventual Stanley Cup champion, Vegas last year and by another team the Ducks defeated this season, the Colorado Avalanche, in 2022.
The Oilers fell flat on their faces out of the starting blocks, leading to an abrupt coaching change.
The result? Edmonton has won 13 of 19 games under coach Kris Knoblauch, who coached a teenage McDavid with the Eerie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League. That about-face encompassed a chain of eight consecutive victories, and, entering the front of Edmonton's Southern California back-to-back set against the Kings on Saturday, an active three-game surge. Since Nov. 23, the Oilers have been the NHL's most prolific offense while also excelling defensively and on special teams, ranking at or near the top of almost every major statistical category over that span.
Last year, the Oilers' power play set a single-season record for power-play percentage, thanks in part to three 100-plus-point scorers and four skaters at a point-per-game pace or better. During their monthlong ascent, their power play performed at a similar level and they currently have five skaters averaging a point per game or better, thanks to the further emergence of defenseman Evan Bouchard.
The Ducks don't boast anything near such scoring prowess, but that's hardly stopped them from beating teams that do. While signature wins and nearmisses have been plentiful, constancy has proved evasive, with the back half of an eight-game holding of court at Honda Center ahead. Their win over Vegas was the only victory in the first four games.
“That win (on Wednesday) against Vegas was big for us, we needed it. Obviously, we've got to start stringing some wins together here on home ice,” Fowler said. “Consistency is something we're still searching for as a group. It seems like we string together four or five good games and then slide a below-average game in there.”
The next-most experienced defenseman in the Ducks' defense corps after Fowler, Radko Gudas (lower body) has been making progress toward a return, returning to the ice for Friday's morning skate and Saturday's practice. He should be considered probable for tonight.
Sniping winger Troy Terry, who was accidentally checked by teammate Mason McTavish in the third period of Friday's game and shaken up, was not on the ice Saturday and should be deemed doubtful.