In the dying embers of their road trip, the Ducks flew to Calgary for a matchup with the Flames and their final opportunity to secure a point from a five-game outing that has seen them go 0-4-0 while being outscored 17-5.
Their most competitive game was also their most recent, a 3-2 loss in Vancouver in which they were a couple of minutes before they would have forced the Pacific Division frontrunner to overtime. The Ducks scored twice in 71 seconds and later drew a penalty with 5:51 to play. However, they didn’t record a shot on their power play before giving up a late game-winner to Dakota Joshua on a play when both Ducks defensemen chased the puck below the goal line.
“You don’t leave the front of the net when the puck is behind your net,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said, lamenting Sunday’s result. “They’re not scoring from behind the net, just stay there. We’ve talked about it repeatedly this year. It’s just foolishness.”
The Ducks got a goal apiece from Mason McTavish, who had seen his power-play role and ice time alike slashed during the prior two games, and Olen Zellweger, who was born in Calgary and then moved around northern Alberta, making this trip something of a homecoming for him.
“It’s kind of like a dream for everyone to score their first NHL goal, so I’m pretty happy to be able to do it,” Zellweger said.
With his secondary assist on McTavish’s goal, Trevor Zegras found the scoresheet for the first time since his two-goal showing against Detroit back on Jan. 7. Zegras broke his ankle in the following game in Nashville and returned from the surgery just four games ago. He played nearly 20 minutes on Sunday in Vancouver, his fourth highest time-on-ice total this season after playing a season-low 11:05 two games earlier.
The Ducks also faced a pair of recently departed teammates a game earlier in Edmonton, where they fell, 6-1, while Adam Henrique scored for the second straight contest and Sam Carrick recorded an assist in their first game against their former club.
Since the March 8 NHL trade deadline, the Ducks have lost 12 of 13 games (1-11-1) by a combined count of 55-18. Over that period, they’ve scored the fewest goals in the NHL and allowed the most while owning the league’s worst points percentage, lowest penalty kill rate and the second worst power-play efficiency.
Next up they’ll face the Flames, a club that was just as active as the Ducks in moving out assets this season and that has also struggled on the penalty kill and overall defensively, especially since the deadline. They’ve been off since Saturday when they halted a five-game skid with a 4-2 victory over the Kings.
Center Nazem Kadri has been a point-per-game player in the 2024 calendar year, in which fellow pivot Yegor Sharangovich has picked up 31 of his 53 points this season. The 25-year-old Belarusian was acquired from the New Jersey Devils over the summer in the Tyler Toffoli trade and has set career highs in points, goals, assists and power-play points during his first campaign with Calgary.
On the Ducks’ injury front, defenseman Radko Gudas (upper-body injury) has not joined the group, extending his absence to 10 games. Rookie rearguard Pavel Mintyukov (lower-body) should be considered questionable after missing the Vancouver game.
DUCKS AT FLAMES
When: Tuesday, 6 p.m.
Where: Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta
TV: Bally Sports SoCal
