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Game #6: Ducks vs. Flames Gameday Preview (10/13/26)
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- Game #6: Ducks vs. Flames Gameday Preview (10/13/26)
It's Frozen Frenzy, which means that all 32 teams will be playing on Tuesday night. The Ducks are matched up against their opponent from last Saturday, the Calgary Flames. After beating the Flames 4-2 in Calgary , the Ducks are hoping to do the double on home ice.
Anaheim is currently one of four teams with one loss or less (regulation and overtime) and is tied for the fourth-most points in the league. What could be deemed a small sample already has them on pace to surpass their points total from October of 2025-26 (13).
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Strong special teams have been at the forefront of the Ducks' early success, as they currently rank in the top-3 for power play (3rd, 37.5%) and top-10 for penalty kill (8th, 89.9%).
A nuclear top power play unit of Jackson LaCombe, Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke, Cutter Gauthier and Mikael Granlund has dominated opposing penalty kills. Their penalty killing corps of forwards (Ryan Poehling, Alex Killorn, Tim Washe and Granlund) have spent enough time killing penalties with one another so much over the past calendar year that Killorn says they have built good chemistry amongst one another.
"We have some new guys on the D side, but when you're killing with familiar faces like Granny and Timmy, me and Poehls, you kind of build the chemistry, so that's been good."
However, the Ducks will be without both Gauthier and Poehling against the Flames. The former left the game in the first period due to an upper-body injury and did not return while the latter suffered a lower-body injury in the third period and also did not return.
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Gauthier participated in team practice on Monday, but left the ice prior to proper line rushes. He is currently day-to-day. Poehling is expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a sprained MCL.
In a corresponding move, 2025 10th overall pick Roger McQueen has been recalled from AHL San Diego and will make his NHL debut against the Flames. He is expected to center a line with A.J. Greer and Frank Vatrano.
"Probably try not to be too nervous and excited, which is obviously gonna come," McQueen said. "Just enjoying it and just trying to play my game and help the team out. Just trying to get the win and just enjoy it. You only get this once, so one of those things that you want to enjoy."
"I thought he got better in camp as it went along there," head coach Joel Quenneville said. "He had a good start down in San Diego. I thought he was one of those guys that'd be pushing for a job at the start of camp, and it didn't take him long to get here. So it's an opportunity for him to play. Gives us a right-handed centerman, size in the middle. Roger's got some upside, could be a really nice career. So we're looking forward to him being used in different ways."
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The Flames are currently in a position that no team wants to be in. They are one of three teams still without a win this season and they are the only team yet to gain a single point. They have the worst goals against per 60 (5.40) in the league and have the second-worst goals for per 60 (1.60) behind the Philadelphia Flyers. While it wasn't expected to be sunshine and rainbows in Calgary this season, things already appear to be getting late, early.
"There's a lot of similarities from when I got to Anaheim," Strome said. "There's a couple guys that are their core pieces here, but a lot of them are not here yet (either). So you're just trying to do it the right way. You're trying to teach guys how to be good professionals, come to the rink and work hard and work on your game. And I think when a guy that's played 30-40 games sees a guy that's played 900 work on his game and work hard and come and put the time in and be positive and all that stuff, I think it's infectious. I know how infectious it was on me when I was a young player to see guys do that. So you just try to pass that message down."
Defenseman Drew Helleson will make his season debut for the Ducks after a lower-body injury caused him to miss all but one of their preseason games and the first five games of the season. He'll be paired with Pavel Mintyukov.
"I'm just excited to get out there," Helleson said. "Be simple to start, get in the groove again and then just get back to doing what I can do."
Ducks Projected Lines
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Alex Killorn - Leo Carlsson - Beckett Sennecke
Nikita Nesterenko - Mikael Granlund - Sam ColangeloA.J. Greer - Roger McQueen - Frank Vatrano
Jeff Malott - Tim Washe - Judd Caulfield
Jackson LaCombe - Noah Warren
Pavel Mintyukov - Drew Helleson
Tyson Hinds - Tristan Luneau
Lukáš Dostál (confirmed)
Flames Projected Lines
Yegor Sharangovich - Mikael Backlund - Joel Farabee
Aydar Suniev - Morgan Frost - Matt CoronatoMatvei Gridin - Martin Pospíšil - Ryan Strome
Maxim Tsyplakov - Jonathan Castagna - Adam Klapka
Kevin Bahl - Šimon Nemec
Yan Kuznetsov - Zach Whitecloud
Jacob Middleton - Zayne Parekh
Dustin Wolf (confirmed)
