The 28-22-and-6 Detroit Red Wings host the 25-24-and-6 Anaheim Ducks this evening (6 PM start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit Extra/Victory+/KCOP-13/97.1 FM), with the Wings having lost 6-4 to Anaheim way back on November 15th.
As the Ducks make their own playoff push, the Red Wings find themselves in an incredibly tight battle for Wild Card positioning in the Eastern Conference:
On Saturday night, the Anaheim Ducks won a 3-2 overtime decision over the Boston Bruins, despite blowing a 2-0 lead, and Anaheim has won 4 straight games and 7 of their last 8, so they’re no pushover–but they lost starting goaltender John Gibson to an injury on Saturday, as the Associated Press reports:
Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson left his club’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Boston Bruins after two periods due to an upper-body injury Saturday night.
Gibson, 31, a topic of trade talks, stopped 19 shots before exiting, giving way to Lukas Dostal, who made 10 saves en route to a win that was sealed when Leo Carlsson scored with 1:21 left in the extra session.
“We just have to believe in everyone in this room,” Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano said after the win. “We’re a really close group, we all get along. At the end of the day, everyone wants to play in the playoffs. I think for us, it’s about not getting too far ahead of ourselves, and try to take it game by game.”
Any playoff push for Anaheim likely will need Gibson, one of the most reliable netminders on the trade market this season. Should the Ducks deal him, he will command a hefty price. And should they keep him, the club will be limited in how it might add salary in the offseason.
Gibson has two years remaining on a deal that carries a $6.4 million salary cap hit, and because he has played on some subpar Ducks teams, his numbers don’t match his skills in the crease. He was 13-27-2 last season, a year after finishing 14-31-8. Headed into Saturday’s return to action from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, he was 9-9-2.
But among a crop of journeyman goaltenders who might be available before the trade deadline, Gibson, a Pittsburgh native and career Duck, stands out as the one who can immediately be a No. 1 for a contender. But the diagnosis of this recent injury looms large for his future.
His club picked up the slack in Boston, though. Trevor Zegras and Vatrano also scored for Anaheim, which won for the seventh time in the past eight games to climb above .500 for the first time in four months.
And Field Level Media reports that the Ducks are full of self-belief at present:
Anaheim will have an even quicker turnaround than Detroit on Sunday. While the Red Wings played an early afternoon contest, the Ducks secured a 3-2 overtime win at Boston on Saturday night. Leo Carlsson scored the game-winner after the Bruins tied the contest with 1:11 remaining in regulation.
Anaheim will carry a four-game winning streak into Sunday’s game. It has won seven of its last eight games to move above the .500 mark.
“Getting two points in this building is hard and we were up for the challenge,” said forward Frank Vatrano, who scored one of the regulation goals. “Obviously, they tied up the game late and we were resilient all the way to the end. It’s a big two points for us. We’ve got to keep going.”
The Ducks defense has been solid during the four-game surge — they haven’t given up more than two goals in that stretch.
The Ducks’ website also offers some stats of note regarding the Ducks’ stronger performers of late:
[Trevor] Zegras has earned points in three of his last four games (2-1=3) and six points in nine outings since returning from a torn meniscus.
[Leo] Carlsson’s assist moved him within one point of 50 for his NHL career and tied him with fellow Swede and current Bruin Hampus Lindholm, who missed tonight’s game with injury, for the fourth-most by a Duck prior to their 21st birthday.
[Frank] Vatrano doubled the Ducks lead two shifts later, finding free space at the backdoor and deftly shoveling home a shot pass by Gudas at the right point.
[Jackson] Lacombe collected assists on both goals, his 25th and 26th points of the season. The 24-year-old, who owns seven points in his last seven games, leads Anaheim defensemen in goals, assists, points and plus/minus (+4).
Here are today’s game notes:
Update: The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton weighs in:
There was some sentiment following Saturday’s Red Wings loss that the defeat (featuring, as it did, a late blown lead to cost Detroit a point) was the team’s worst of the season. That strikes me as a remarkably short-sighted observation, one that is only even remotely conceivable if one completely erases the pre-Christmas portion of the season.
To wit, the Red Wings’ last outing against Anaheim is a much stronger candidate for being the team’s worst performance of the season, blowing a two-goal lead on the way to a 6–4 loss to a Ducks team that has struggled mightily throughout the season.
That game came in mid-November, and, with McLellan now behind the bench, it hardly seems hyperbolic to suggest the Red Wings are an entirely different team from the one that blew that lead in Anaheim. They will be looking to prove that difference Sunday evening as they look for their first win following the international break.
Update #2: Here’s more from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:
Look for the power play to be a major factor when the Red Wings host the Anehim Ducks today (6 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network). Since Todd McLellan took over the team Dec. 26, Detroit’s power play efficiency is 36.8% (25-for-68). Today, Detroit’s surging power play goes up against an Anaheim penalty killing group that ranks 27th out of 32 NHL teams. Meanwhile, the Ducks have the NHL’s second-worst power play, scoring in only 12 percent of their chances.
