Takeaways from the Ducks 5-2 Loss to the Wild

The Anaheim Ducks (4-7-2) hosted the Minnesota Wild (10-2-2) on Friday night at Honda Center.

Game #13: Ducks vs. Wild Gameday Preview

Minnesota was playing their second game of a back-to-back and their third game in four nights, while Anaheim was looking to snap a three-game winless streak.

Ducks head coach Greg Cronin shuffled the forward lines in this game to start and continued to do so as the game progressed. Trevor Zegras' line with Cutter Gauthier and Alex Killorn was the only one to remain untouched at the start and through the duration of the game.

Cam Fowler missed the game with an upper-body injury and was replaced by Urho Vaakanainen on the left side of Olen Zellweger. After being a healthy scratch on Tuesday, Jackson LaCombe slid back in on the left side of Radko Gudas.

Lukas Dostal got his 11th start of the season in the Ducks' 13 game and stopped 26 of the 31 shots he faced.

Opposing him was Filip Gustavsson, who stopped 33 of 35 shots between the pipes for the Wild.

Ducks vs Wild Pre-Game Stat Pack

Here are my notes from this game:

Power Play: The Ducks' power play was 0-6, but they experimented with several combinations of players in different spots on the ice.

Trevor Zegras found himself on the right flank for the first time this season, a spot he'd played at for the majority of his career. From that spot he was more active, drew attention, got the opposing penalty kill to shift their structure, and didn't have to attack downhill as much, allowing him to dissect the structure with space.

Lukas Dostal: This was the first time this season Dostal allowed a goal or two he would have stopped earlier in the year. Minnesota's second goal was the first to squeak through a crack in his positioning. We could be seeing the signs of wear and tear after starting about 85% of the Ducks' games in the first month of the season.

Cycle: The cycle was focused on movement at the top of the zone when they had extended time. All five players were flowing and active throughout the zone and it led to more potent chances.

Frank Vatrano: When Vatrano is forced to play as the low forward in defensive zone coverage, he is often late to react, pick up his assignment, and at times lost coverage.

Forecheck/D-Zone Coverage: The Ducks were able to force the turnovers necessary within their system to generate offense the other way. The system continues to limit transition opportunities because of the spots the defenders are in when the turnover occurs and odd-man opportunities are minimized or rendered mild.

The Ducks will next host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday evening at 5 pm PST in hopes of ending their losing streak at three games.