Ducks shake things up in search of goal – Orange County Register

Ahead of Friday’s showdown with the Minnesota Wild at Honda Center, the Ducks tried to spark offense with a lineup reconfiguration.

Training reports have indicated that Leo Karlsson will be flanked by teammates Isak Lundestrom and Robby Fabbri on the top line. It is noteworthy that Mason McTavish skated on the fourth line.

The Ducks were the NHL’s least productive offensive team in terms of results (goals and goals per game), but ranked 22nd out of 32 teams in expected goals per 60 minutes on the MoneyPuck leaderboard.

Cutter Gauthier leads the team in shots on goal and Frank Vatrano is tied for second, but they have only combined for one goal – Vatrano’s empty-net goal. Despite a similar lack of tangible accolades, Trevor Zegras has shown flashes of brilliance that have made him a rapidly rising star heading into a nightmare 2023-24 season filled with injury setbacks and trade speculation.

So, will the Ducks’ scorers show up?

“I would think so. We’re all chasing quarters right now,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said.

Even though the Ducks’ expected output is higher than their actual output, their possession numbers overall have been unimpressive, and the main reason they have had some modest success (.417 points percentage) has been their goaltending. Despite scoring 10 goals below expectations at five-on-five, Lukasz Dostal saved nearly a dozen goals above expectation at 5-on-5, more than any goalie this season.

And yet on Tuesday The Vancouver Canucks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-1. and their previous losses, flop 4-2 vs ChicagoDosta was defeated by external factors such as massive screens, seam passes and last-minute deflections.

“He was our star player this year and continued to play well,” forward Brock McGinn said after the Chicago game. “We need to do a better job of scoring a few more goals for him to give him a cushion.”

While the Ducks have tried to suck the Pacific Ocean through the coffee straw with equal force, their power play has flowed freely in recent games. Of the three goals scored on this stand, two were scored in an intensified attack (one goal was scored in a five-on-four game, the other six on four). They have four man advantage markers in four games, and they come from four different scorers (Karlsson, McTavish, Troy Terry and Olen Zellweger).

The Wild moved in the opposite direction on the power play, failing to convert on their final 14 opportunities. That includes an 0-for-4 performance on Tuesday, where perfection potentially could have turned a lopsided loss into a narrow win as they lost to the Kings 5–1which froze the game with an empty goal.