The Anaheim Ducks are at a surprisingly critical time in their season, a season in which they’re on track to end their seven-season playoff drought, as they sit atop the Pacific Division standings in early December and 27 games into the 2025-26 season.
However, their position remains a bit precarious, as they have just a one-point lead on the Vegas Golden Knights (32 points), who’ve played one less game than Anaheim (33 points). Also, just five points separate them from being on the outside of the playoff picture, looking in.
After jumping out to a hot start, under a new coaching staff and surprising opponents, teams seem to have adjusted and are better prepared to counter what the Ducks are trying to accomplish on a night-to-night, shift-by-shift basis. As the Ducks have undergone a systemic facelift and dealt with the pitfalls of that adjustment, the backbone of the team to this point in the season has been Lukas Dostal.
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Dostal is one week into a 2-3 week timeframe to return from an upper-body injury and has been sidelined for the Ducks’ last five games, where the Ducks have gone 2-3-0. He carried an 11-5-1 record, a .904 SV%, and had saved 10.1 goals above expected (T-12th in the NHL). He, along with the Ducks' early-season ability to outscore their problems, had papered over much of the Ducks’ defensive deficiencies.
One of the areas that needed a tweak was the penalty kill, which currently sits 27th in the NHL, killing at a 75% rate. It’s not an area they can afford to be poor in, as through 27 games, they have taken 97 minor penalties (10th in the NHL) and average 10.2 PIM per game (eighth in the NHL).
The Ducks coaching staff, specifically head coach Joel Quenneville and assistant coach Ryan McGill, have begun to make said necessary tweaks. They began by overhauling their personnel deployment while down a man.
Heading into their game on Monday against the St. Louis Blues, three staples of the Ducks’ penalty kill had been Jackson LaCombe (averaging 3:04 shorthanded TOI), Leo Carlsson (1:52), and Troy Terry (1:48). All three star players were taken off the penalty kill entirely.
Pavel Mintyukov was placed on the top PK unit with Jacob Trouba. The second unit now consists of Drew Helleson and Radko Gudas. The first forwards over the boards on the kill are now Ryan Poehling and Alex Killorn, with a combination of Chris Kreider, Frank Vatrano, Jansen Harkens, and Cutter Gauthier behind them.
“Our penalty killing, I think, we had a great start to the season. I thought we did some good things,” Joel Quenneville said of his unit when asked about taking his trio of stars off the kill. “Then, I think we were getting probably too many penalties, which they’re (the opposing team) going to start to figure it out.
“So I think we can manage the amount of time we’re putting them on the (penalty kill), and at the same time, our group can be more effective by being together, knowing the pressure points, and taking away shooting lanes. It’s a combination of both. Leo and Terry, getting them resting for more of the 5v5 and the power play. It was a lot of ice time, something we looked at.“
The Ducks are now two games into this experiment, and the results have been there. The Ducks have killed seven of eight penalties over the last two games: a 4-1 win over the Blues and a 7-0 blowout loss against the Utah Mammoth.
Terry and Carlsson are both players who possess quality defensive tools. Terry is disruptive and influences attackers to low-danger areas from the wing, while Carlsson can diagnose breakouts and kill plays in the neutral zone or forecheck. However, when placed on the kill together, they were perhaps too aggressive, quick to jump for secondary pressure, and attempted to manufacture offense while down a player.
LaCombe, while an ace at defending the rush, has had his struggles this season boxing out and eliminating sticks at the net front. Too often was the opposing net front forward able to sustainably screen the Ducks’ netminder, get tips on perimeter shots, and put rebounds in the back of the net.
Though the sample is small, the Ducks have found a better balance of aggressiveness and passiveness while in zone on the kill. Carlsson, Terry, and LaCombe are now theoretically freer to focus on the offensive side of the puck, where they’re truly special, and can conserve needed energy for those 5v5 and power play minutes.
The Ducks will have a tall order on Friday, as they’ll host the white hot Washington Capitals, who have won their last six games and nine of their last ten. Despite now leading the Metropolitan Division, the Caps have only converted 17.3% of their power plays (T-22nd in the NHL) and have only generated 7.66 xGF/60 minutes (24th in the NHL) while on the man-advantage. They’ve gone 4-13 (30.8%) on the power play during their current six-game winning streak. Still, this will be a good chance to see how the PK unit is progressing on the Anaheim side.
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