Over the past decade, the Ducks had such a poor power play that they ranked 33rd out of 32 NHL franchises.
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Though that’s the product of a technicality – the Arizona Coyotes relocated to become the Utah Mammoth but kept separate franchise records – it illustrates how feeble the Ducks’ man-advantage units have been on balance.
But if the early going and particularly Sunday’s 3-2 overtime win in their home opener are any indicator, this is a new era. They’ll have a chance to build on that Wednesday night, when they welcome the Edmonton Oilers, who have had the league’s most efficient power play during that same span.
The power play accounted for all the scoring in the Ducks’ victory over the Florida Panthers, with three man-advantage goals bringing their conversion rate to 50% through two games. After trying to spread the wealth last year, Ducks coach Joel Quenneville and assistant Jay Woodcroft have loaded up the top unit. Similar to what the Vegas Golden Knights did successfully last year, the plan seems to be to stack one group and have it play the preponderance of power-play action.
On Sunday, they built two leads with that quintet on the ice and sealed Florida’s fate in overtime with a four-man look that consisted of four forwards.
“We’ve got some great personnel on it. One unit plays a little bit more, last year we were more balanced with our units, this year it looks like we’ve got five guys who are all pretty crafty and handy, four guys on the next one,” Quenneville said. “They made some really pretty plays and scored some pretty goals.”
Necessity was the mother of refinement as the Ducks lost one regular to injury (Troy Terry), another to a contract termination (Chris Kreider) and two more to trades (Mason McTavish and Olen Zellweger). Quenneville said the current group was able to make solid entries in the middle of the offensive zone, create options inside the blue line and take advantage of its formidable weaponry.
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Not only did Zellweger depart from the Ducks’ back end, so did their three veteran right defensemen. Toss in injuries to young but somewhat seasoned rearguards Drew Helleson and Ian Moore, and that meant significant opportunities for defensemen without significant experience early in the season.
“The best [part] of our game was how well (the young defensemen) played in the two games against some top players, some big players, some strong players, some smart players and experienced guys,” Quenneville said. “Their gap really improved through the short training camp we had, and their movement with the puck is getting better.”
Wednesday’s opponent has also had to improvise since the early going has already left them down players. Former Ducks goalie Freddie Andersen, breakout attacker Matthew Savoie, netfront menace Zach Hyman and former No. 1 overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be among those unavailable to Edmonton.
That hasn’t stopped them from compiling a 2-0-1 record, starting the year with a home-and-home set against the Vancouver Canucks that saw the two sides combine for 27 goals in two games. Following a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken, center Connor McDavid paced the NHL in scoring with nine points and Evan Bouchard was in a three-way tie for the goals lead with four.
For the Ducks, reports from practice indicated that 18-year-old rookie Nikita Klepov’s debut was imminent after he skated on the third line in place of Sam Colangelo on Tuesday.
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Edmonton (2-0-1, 5 points) at Ducks (2-0-0, 4 points)
When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Where: Honda Center
How to watch: KCOP (Ch. 13), Prime Video