Quack of Dawn: Ducks Morning Report - 01/22

Following their 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers last night, the Ducks were back at Honda Center for today’s practice.

In similar fashion to Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Panthers, the Ducks faltered in the third period in last night’s result. A goal from Sam Bennett less than a minute into the third took away any momentum that the Ducks had generated during the second period.

Lundeström returns, bottom-6 gets a shake-up

Isac Lundeström was a welcome sight to see at today’s practice after leaving Saturday’s game due to injury. He received a knee-to-knee hit from Sam Reinhart—who received a five-minute kneeing major and a game misconduct—and did not return to the game. He also missed last night’s game, but was seen walking around without discomfort before and after the game.

“My whole quad was really sore and almost cramping up for a couple of days,” Lundeström said. “But, over that (span), I knew my knee was good right away, so that was a nice feeling to know. It was just like a Charlie horse. It’s been a lot of rehab the last couple of days, but it was nice that it wasn’t the (worst-case scenario).”

After skating on a line with Cutter Gauthier and Robby Fabbri in Saturday’s game, Lundeström was on the wing opposite Brett Leason with Mason McTavish centering the pair. It’s a switch-up from last night’s game which had McTavish flanked by Gauthier and Fabbri, a combination that had become a regular line for head coach Greg Cronin. With Lundeström sliding to the wing, Jansen Harkins centered Gauthier and Fabbri.

“He’s a leader,” Lundeström said of McTavish. “He’s good in the locker room and a good guy off-ice too, so it’s easy to play with him. He has a really good shot, so I hope he can keep shooting the puck. I think he’ll score a lot of goals.”

This isn’t the first time this season that McTavish has played in the bottom-6. At the start of the season, he struggled to make his mark and was dropped to the fourth line by Cronin, who preached that McTavish needed to get back to basics.

While the intention isn’t short-sighted, this move feels contradictory with what Cronin discussed regarding getting Trevor Zegras—who returned from a nearly six-week absence last night—into a top-6 role.

“I'm just focused on the short term solution right now and that is to get (Zegras) in a top-6 role. And then you have a guy like (McTavish) who did play well on the wing, but (Lundeström) goes down. We had (Lundeström) in the third line center position (with Gauthier and Fabbri), I thought that line was really good. And then you can mix and match. Do you put (Zegras) and (McTavish) on the wings on different lines in the top-6? That’s something I’ve thought about as well. They’re both offensively talented kids. It’s like a puzzle. We've got to try and fit the pieces together.”

“(McTavish) was maybe struggling a little bit early on in the season,” Lundeström said. “But, I think he's been really good lately, taking care of the puck and being mote precise in the defensive zone and always on the right side. He’s just got to keep it going.”

It’s clear that McTavish has enough offensive upside to be a top-6 player. Shunting him into the bottom-6 role—and away from Gauthier, who’s had chemistry with McTavish—just one day after he scored a goal is a bit puzzling.

Nesterenko wants to make his mark

Nikita Nesterenko has played in seven games for the Ducks this season. He’s gotten games with the big club in three seasons and with a wealth of AHL experience under his belt now, he’s trying to make sure the NHL games played total keeps going up.

“In college, I was a top-6 guy and right now, I'm the bottom-6 guy,” Nesterenko said. “So I’m trying to change my game a little bit and adapt. It’s hard to just step into this league and be a top-6 guy and score goals like (I did) in the past. Simplify my game. I'm trying to play harder—just little things—win battles, win the walls. It's the little things.

“You don't get as much ice time as you do in college and stuff, so I'm trying to build that trust with the coaches and then, hopefully, you build the trust and then you can start getting some more freedom and making more plays. For now, just keeping it simple and sticking to little things.”

Nesterenko also mentioned how players have come up from San Diego, where they were in top-6 roles and have had to adapt their game to be in a bottom-6 role in Anaheim. Jansen Harkins—whom Nesterenko played with during preseason and in San Diego—and the recently reassigned Sam Colangelo have both gone through the same experiences that Nesterenko is currently going through.

“It’s nice when you have guys with you adapting (to the NHL) and you know each other's game,” Nesterenko said. “Just kind of talking (with them about) what we all need to do to stay up and be effective here. I think Jansen and I have been working well. Just keeping it simple, getting pucks in and just trying to stay out of the defensive zone.”