Ducks frustrated in beginning, middle, end in loss to Ottawa

ANAHEIM, Calif. – It was a frustrating start, middle and end for the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

The Ducks finally got their offense going with goals 86 seconds apart in the second period, but the Ottawa Senators tied in the final minute of the second period and scored the go-ahead goal with two minutes remaining in a 3-2 win at Honda Center.

Anaheim got two golden cracks at the game-tying goal with the extra attacker. However, Beckett Senncke’s swipe went wide, and Troy Terry’s stick snapped in his hands on a close-in one-timer to turn the Ducks aside.

“I thought we had a pretty solid third period, and I thought we had a lot of play,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “It was a tough icing (before the go-ahead goal). They got the fortunate bounce, and we got our goalie out. We have a great opportunity to make the play and made the play, and that was a tough break, no pun.”

Sennecke tied the game with his rookie-leading seventh goal, and Mason McTavish scored on the next shift to put the Ducks ahead, 2-1. However, a breakaway-preventing penalty by McTavish on his next shift put Ottawa on the power play, and they tied it with 58 seconds left in the second period.

“We were 2 minutes away from grabbing a point, and we were coming with nothing,” Petr Mrazek said. “So that’s frustrating.”

Mrazek was stellar with his 22 stops on 25 shots, but Drake Batherson reached for a tip-in sandwiched between Ducks defenders for the go-ahead goal with 1:58 remaining.

“He was unreal,” McTavish said. “Him and Dosty have been unreal every single game this year. Sucks to not even get one point for him.”

Anaheim (13-7-1, 27 points) continues this six-game homestand with another fight for the top of the Pacific Division against the Vegas Golden Knights (10-4-6, 26 points) on Saturday.

Anaheim’s offense simply wasn’t generating much of anything through the first half of this game, as Ottawa clogged the middle and pinned the Ducks down in their own zone.

Then one simple switch–centers Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish swapping places on the first and second lines–ignited a near instantaneous spark.

“We had more pace to our game. We had more zone time. We had more possession,” Quenneville said. “I thought we got something out of it.”

Carlsson got out on the rush and found Cutter Gauthier sprinting up the middle of the ice. Gauthier whiffed on an initial shot, but it worked to his advantage, as he dangled around the Ottawa defender to get a backhand pass off across the net front.

Beckett Sennecke was on the other end for an emphatic slam into a half-empty net for the equalizer, 1-1.

Just 86 seconds later, McTavish was the beneficiary of his new trio. Drew Helleson blocked a shot with his skates and fed up to Troy Terry, who fought off an Ottawa check to hit Chris Kreider in neutral ice. Kreider and McTavish raced into the offensive zone, and Kreider’s pass split the Ottawa defense for a clean McTavish finish and the lead, 2-1.

“I think they just really hold on to the puck really well, and I feel like I do too,” McTavish said. “I feel we’re just reading off each other, making plays, and getting open for each other. 

After three games that featured some of his lowest ice-time of the season, an 18-minute benching and a demotion to the fourth line, McTavish told The Sporting Tribune that “I got a lot more to give.” McTavish went from one point in his previous six games to three points in this home back-to-back, including his first goal against a goaltender since Halloween.

Quenneville on Pavel Mintyukov: “He’ll get a turn”

Mintyukov was a healthy scratch for the third straight game on Thursday. Mintyukov came out of the line-up when Radko Gudas returned from injury on Monday to be paired with Ian Moore, who stepped in for Gudas when he was injured and earned the opportunity to continue playing.

“I think it’s competitive,” Quenneville said. “I know that he’s played all the games up to this stretch here until the last three games here at home. So, I think that, you know, we’ll look at it. We’ll see how, next game and opponent, how we come out of tonight’s game.”

Quenneville has made almost no changes to his line-ups following victories, so with Gudas’ return following the three-game losing streak and the back-to-back wins that followed, it tracked that Mintyukov did not draw back in on Thursday.

Gudas and Moore were split up late against the Senators, with Moore pairing up with Jackson LaCombe and Gudas siding up with Drew Helleson. Quenneville said he’s comfortable with different options with his pairs, and that the Ducks have the guys to do that.

Whether that means Mintyukov draws back into the line-up on Saturday remains to be seen until then.

“As an organization, there’s nothing wrong with going six, seven, eight, nine, 10 deep a lot of years,” Quenneville said. “So seven or eight, and if we only have seven playing right now, he’ll get a turn.”