Game #48: Ducks vs. Penguins Gameday Preview

The Ducks look to snap a four-game losing streak tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Ducks are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. The Penguins are coming off a 5-1 victory over the Kings on Jan. 20. This is the second Ducks-Penguins matchup of the season after the Penguins took the first one in overtime in October.

“(The Penguins) smoked us in Pittsburgh,” Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said. “We were lucky to get a point. When you have Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Karlsson, those are elite players that have had a lot of experience. We’ve got to be respectful when they're on the ice.

“Letang and Karlsson get up into the play and when you when you have those guys on the ice, you're going to get four-man attacks and it's going to transfer into the offensive zone. And I call it like a pinwheel approach when the defensemen get involved and they're confident, so we’ve got to try and end plays in the defensive zone quickly. And then we’ve got to make sure that we try and get deep into their zone and play in their zone.”

“They’ve got some really high-end players,” Mason McTavish echoed. “Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Karlsson (are a few of them). The biggest thing is just compete with our group. Try not to give them as much defensively and just really try and just stay in their zone. That's the safest spot to be.”

Related: Quack of Dawn: Ducks Morning Report - 01/22

McTavish skated on a line with Isac Lundeström and Brett Leason yesterday at practice, but Cronin revealed that that line won’t stick for gameday. Lundeström, Leason and Jansen Harkins are the fourth line while McTavish will center Cutter Gauthier and Robby Fabbri, a familiar line combination since mid-December.

“(There’s) definitely been a lot of movement (on the lines for me) throughout the year,” McTavish said. “Sometimes, it's hard to kind of get adjusted quickly, but just got to do what you can and control what you can control.”

Looks like former Duck Rickard Rakell will be back in the lineup tonight for the Penguins. He missed the previous game against the Kings after going back to Pittsburgh for family reasons.

Ducks Projected Lines

Frank Vatrano - Ryan Strome - Troy Terry
Trevor Zegras - Leo Carlsson - Alex Killorn
Cutter Gauthier - Mason McTavish - Robby Fabbri
Isac Lundeström - Jansen Harkins - Brett Leason

Jackson LaCombe - Radko Gudas
Pavel Mintyukov - Jacob Trouba
Brian Dumoulin - Drew Helleson

John Gibson (projected)

Penguins Projected Lines

Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Cody Glass
Anthony Beauvillier - Kevin Hayes - Philip Tomasino
Drew O’Connor - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari

Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk - Erik Karlsson
Owen Pickering - Pierre-Oliver Joseph

Alex Nedeljkovic (projected)