SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – It had all the tropes of so many Anaheim Ducks comeback victories this season, but this game had a different edge. In a potential first-round playoff preview, the Ducks may have just learned what it will take to win playoff games.
The Utah Mammoth charged out to an early lead, but Anaheim scrapped back with a shorthanded goal from Ryan Poehling , a strike out of chaos by Alex Killorn and a shutdown third-period to hold back Utah, 4-1, on Friday at Delta Center.
"If the playoffs were to start today, we would play them," Killorn said of the wild-card Mammoth. "You can tell that, even throughout the league, there's a little bit of stuff going on after the whistle. Teams are trying to feel each other out in these moments, but I loved the way we competed in the second, third period. Not a great start. We'll work on that. Definitely had an excitement to the game."
After allowing the first goal for the 11th time in 13 games since the Olympic break and the 43rd time this season (third-most in the NHL), the Ducks put together their co-league-leading 22nd comeback victory. Anaheim is now 22-0-0 when leading after two periods.
Lukáš Dostál made 29 saves, and Cutter Gauthier and Mikael Granlund put home empty net goals to lock down the victory.
"In the first, we made it really tough on him," Killorn said of Dostál, "and we don't want to do that, but we got to be better. It's always nice when you have a goalie who's able to keep you in games, especially in the first period there, and he made some huge saves coming down the stretch. He was our best player tonight for sure."
The Ducks have thrived in comeback environments all season, but as the schedule winds down and the games tighten up, Anaheim knows it has to figure out its problem starting the game, as the postgame focus showed.
"They came ready to play," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said of Utah. "We were lucky to come out of that the way it was, only down one in the first. It could have been a handful… We picked it up as the game progressed, and still, the start was just opposite the way we wanted to start. We had an emphasis on it, and still, we gotta fix it."
Still, the silver lining comes from the fact the Ducks did it again, and it wasn't in a high-octane comeback. It was the kind of grind-it-out, fight-for-every inch kind of game the Ducks will see into April and a potential playoff series.
"I think the rest of the games here on out are going to be like that," Poehling said. "For us to just know that and kind of get a feel for that, it's not only gonna help us in these games, but I think it'll help us if we eventually get there (to the playoffs)."
Anaheim (38-27-4, 80 points) now holds a three-point lead in the Pacific Division after the rest of the group went 0-for-6 on Thursday. Edmonton (34-27-9, 77 points) is three points back and Vegas (31-24-14, 76 points) is two points back with 13 games to play.
Anaheim, which matched last season's standings point total tonight, and Vegas are even on games played, both with one fewer than Edmonton.
The Ducks are back at Honda Center on Sunday to host the Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo Sabres for another one-game homestand before heading out on a three-game Western Canadian trip beginning in Vancouver on Tuesday.
Ryan Poehling Prevails
The 27-year-old continues to be a spark plug for the Ducks.
With Utah already up 1-0 on a second-minute strike and bearing down on a first-period power play, it was Poehling that dragged the Ducks back level.
Pavel Mintyukov and Alex Killorn battled the puck up the boards and into neutral ice, where Poehling chased down the loose puck, held off a draped Utah defender and deceived Vitek Vanacek on a one-on-one move for the game-tying shorthanded goal.
It was Poehling's ninth goal of the season and fourth since the Olympic break.
"That turned the game" Joel Quenneville said, "at least to a neutral game at that point. He scored some big shorties for us, and that was a big one as well. He gives us different things and different looks and his speed is dangerous."
The goal tied Poehling's career high for points in a season with 31, but the offensive flair still isn't Poehling's selling point. It's a great asset to have, but Poehling remains a defensive-focused forward that's extending into an all areas player.
Poehling's most important contribution may have come in the face-off dot, where he won 17 of 23 draws including 10 of 14 in the defensive zone.
Last summer's trade and this month's contract extension look better with each passing game.
Mason McTavish Returns
After a pair of healthy scratches following a run of just two assists in 12 games and being bumped from center to winger and back again, Mason McTavish returned to the line-up on Friday in Utah.
Joel Quenneville's expectations for his big-signing center were simple.
"Play the game," Quenneville said at morning skate. "He's in the middle of the ice, face-offs, be strong at the net, want the puck, keep the puck, defensively responsible. Just like with everybody, basically every night."
McTavish said earlier in the week that he felt he wasn't getting the puck with speed or getting the puck enough at all. Quenneville also said he wanted him to use his shot. Both led to the Ducks go-ahead goal.
McTavish stepped into space and his shot leaked through Vitek Vanacek and laid in the crease behind the Utah netminder. That led to a sequence of chaos, where Beckett Sennecke found the puck, sent it over to Alex Killorn and Killorn shot it through the sea of bodies.
"It was great. I love playing with Mac-T," Killorn said. "He's so talented with the puck. On my goal, he was the one that kind of got it in the zone and almost scored, and it kind of comes back to me. So great job on him."
However, that play did not earn McTavish much more of anything.
McTavish opened the game centering that second line with Killorn and Sennecke, but by the end of the game, McTavish had been sent to the fourth line wing, flip-flopping with Mikael Granlund.
McTavish played just 10:22 time-on-ice, third-fewest by any Duck, and lost the one face-off he took.
"He's all right," Quenneville said. "I know that we moved him around a little bit. I think Mac-T gives us a little bit of presence offensively. I think all the way around it was nice to see him a part of the group there and having some fun with it."
Penalty Kill Punches Back
Ryan Poehling's shorthanded goal punctuated a strong night for the penalty kill after a string of rough ones coming out of the Olympic break.
Anaheim had allowed one power play goal in each of the first seven games of the restart and gave up three on seven opportunities in Toronto just over a week ago. However, the kill has gone 15-for-15 in the four games since, including a three-for-three night in Utah with four shots allowed.
"You know, when it rains, it pours," Poehling said. "Sometimes when you go through a stretch like that… you're going out there and it's tough. So for us to kind of get through that and just have the mindset of, hey, you know what, believe in yourself, trust yourself, trust the guys out there. I think we did a great job with that."
Anaheim's penalty kill is now 21st in the league with a 78.3% kill rate, which is still a decent step up from last season's 29th-ranked unit at 74.2%.
"I think it's just attention to details," Alex Killorn said. "Like even when we win a face off, we're getting the pucks down the ice. We're not fumbling it and having to play in our D zone for that long. Those little details have been good."
