{"id":203581,"date":"2026-03-04T07:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/203581\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T07:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:56:08","slug":"ducks-comeback-magic-runs-out-to-sturdy-league-leading-avalanche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/203581\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks comeback magic runs out to sturdy, league-leading Avalanche"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2013 For the fourth straight game out of the Olympic break, the Anaheim Ducks<\/a> allowed the opening goal, but this time, the magic elixir dried up.<\/p>\n

The league-leading Colorado Avalanche were opportunistic in their scoring and stout in their defense and goaltending to turn away the upstart Ducks, 5-1, on Tuesday at Honda Center.<\/p>\n

Anaheim snapped a five-game winning streak and a run of eight consecutive home victories with just its third loss in the last 15 games (12-3-0).<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying from behind is not traditionally winning hockey,\u201d Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. \u201cYou can\u2019t expect to keep chasing a game. Keep thinking that can happen like that, you’re gonna run out of luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ducks mounted third period comebacks against Edmonton<\/a>, Winnipeg<\/a> and Calgary<\/a> to open this homestand, but Anaheim could not add to their total of 17 comeback victories, tied for third-most in the league. The Ducks\u2019 36 games allowing the opening goal are the fourth-most in the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve been fortunate that we’ve come back, and we’ve shown a lot of resiliency with the group,\u201d Alex Killorn said, \u201cbut you can’t do that in every game. It’s just not gonna work that way. So we\u2019ve got to find a way to get some leads and have some better starts, so we don’t have to rely on doing that at the end of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anaheim couldn\u2019t capitalize on early offensive chances\u2013a snakebit Mason McTavish sent a puck wide of an open net on a first period power play\u2013and Colorado frustrated the Ducks in the neutral zone to negate a comeback from the 2-0 opening-period lead.<\/p>\n

Cutter Gauthier scored his sixth goal in six games with a one-timer off an excellent Jackson LaCombe read in the second period to cut Colorado\u2019s early lead, 2-1, but that was all Anaheim could manage.<\/p>\n

Parker Kelly scored his first of two goals after Jack Drury dug out a puck from under Luk\u00e1s Dostal\u2019s glove later in the second period, which Quenneville marked as the early backbreaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we were fine until they scored the third one,\u201d Quenneville said. \u201cI thought our start was okay. We didn’t score on the power play, which would have been nice to score early, but I thought the game was even at that point, 2-1 down. That goal really seemed to take the edge off of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anaheim (33-24-3, 69 points) missed an opportunity to jump back into first place in the ever-tightening Pacific Division for the first time since Dec. 22. The Ducks remain one point back of division-leading Vegas (28-19-14, 70 points), which has lost three in a row. Anaheim has one game in hand on the Knights.<\/p>\n

Edmonton (30-24-8, 68 points) pulled within one point of Anaheim and two points of Vegas. The Oilers. Anaheim has played two fewer games than Edmonton, and Vegas has one game in hand on the Oilers.<\/p>\n

Seattle (29-22-9, 67 points) is now just two points behind Anaheim in the second wild card and even on games played.<\/p>\n

The Ducks get right back at it on Wednesday, as the New York Islanders and rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer roll into town for the second half of this home back-to-back.<\/p>\n

Trudging Through the Snow<\/p>\n

Colorado is the league\u2019s top team for a reason. The Avalanche lead the NHL in goals per game, goals allowed per game, shots per game and save percentage.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Avalanche were opportunistic with their scoring, stout with their goaltending and absolutely frustrating in the neutral zone.<\/p>\n

Anaheim registered the first five shots on goal and earned two power plays in the first 10 minutes, but the Ducks couldn\u2019t crack Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood early.<\/p>\n

Wedgewood\u2019s fortitude allowed Colorado time to let its skill shine, and that’s what Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar did 11 minutes in.<\/p>\n

Makar entered the offensive zone with speed, sent the puck in front, wheeled around the net to pick up the same loose puck, stepped into space and fired the opening strike past Dostal.<\/p>\n

Makar picked up an assist on a power play marker three minutes later, as Martin Necas blasted a puck around layers of traffic for the 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not that we’re playing terrible to start the game,\u201d Killorn said. \u201cIt’s just little mistakes that end up costing us, so we’re gonna have to tighten that up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tighten up is what the Avalanche did in response to their early advantage, and that\u2019s where Colorado\u2019s true prowess of a true Stanley Cup contender comes through. For all their vaunted skill players\u2013led by Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, who hit 100 points tonight\u2013their defensive aptitude sets them apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they did a good job of keeping us and preventing us to get inside in their end,\u201d Quenneville said. \u201cThat’s why they’re such a good team. All facets are buttoned down, and I think that their team speed was very evident tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Avalanche set up their 1-2-2 neutral zone structure to keep the Ducks outside, and their defense maintained tight gaps. Combined, the Ducks simply couldn\u2019t get any speed going through the middle ice\u2013aside from a Leo Carlsson foray sparking Cutter Gauthier\u2019s lone Ducks goal\u2013or sustain much offensive zone time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey play really hard man-on-man, and their D are just big and strong,\u201d Killorn said. \u201cEven the ones that aren’t big are strong and they skate really well. They did a good job whether or not we got the zone. It was kind of one shot, then we were out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missed Anaheim opportunities and successful Colorado responses made for a simple lockdown game plan for the Avalanche, even on the back end of a back-to-back.<\/p>\n

Strome Scratched Again; Injured Terry, Granlund Show Progress<\/p>\n

For the third straight game, Anaheim skated with an 11-forward, 7-defenseman line-up on Tuesday, as they continue to observe a healing forward group with Mikael Granlund, Troy Terry, Frank Vatrano.<\/p>\n

However, after a bout with an illness the last two games, Ryan Strome returned to Tuesday\u2019s morning skate and skated in warm-ups, but the veteran was a scratch for the sixth straight game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy for him not playing,\u201d Quenneville said at morning skate. \u201cAs much as he used to play too is part of that. That can be tricky\u2026 He\u2019s been around. He\u2019s been through it. He can talk about how it\u2019s not easy being in the position he\u2019s in, and I understand it. That\u2019s the tough part of our business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quenneville also said this morning that both Granlund and Terry progressed, despite not taking part in the early skate.<\/p>\n

Granlund missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. Granlund skated on his own before Tuesday\u2019s morning skate, but the 34-year-old has yet to practice since taking a hit from behind late in Finland\u2019s bronze medal win in Milan.<\/p>\n

Terry missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. It\u2019s Terry\u2019s second stint with an upper-body injury. The 28-year-old missed 11 games in January with the same upper-body injury.<\/p>\n

Vatrano participated in the morning skate on Tuesday\u2013his first since Dec. 27\u2013but he hasn\u2019t gotten full clearance to return from a fractured shoulder suffered. He remains on injured reserve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2013 For the fourth straight game out of the Olympic break, the Anaheim Ducks allowed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[4855,163,824,165,164,72088,92,1718,401,1719,1721,9095,896,100,404,1722],"class_list":["post-203581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-alex-killorn","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-cale-makar","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-cutter-gauthier","tag-hockey","tag-joel-quenneville","tag-mason-mctavish","tag-mighty-ducks","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-news","tag-nhl","tag-tst-los-angeles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}