Ducks Won Game 2 vs Golden Knights with a lot of Money Sitting in the Press Box, Future of Key Players in Question

Despite expensive roster players Frank Vatrano and Mason McTavish watching from the sidelines, Anaheim stunned Vegas to level the series as Joel Quenneville's unconventional roster gambles continue paying dividends.

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Nick, go ahead.

Joel, we think of your speed is with the puck, but is your speed showing up without the puck?

Like starts in their end, forcing them to ice it, or flip it out, or turn it over, and really not get going?

No, I think we got speed on, all the lines, and I think we got balance in our lines.

And I thought that, that defensively we played one of our better games all year, that we had good puck pursuit.

we had some good shifts in the second period with, possession.

I thought we had a good start to the game.

a lot of positives out there, but, you know, we got some guys that can skate and some guys that can make plays with it too in speed.

What do you think made it so effective putting Cutter on the Granlund line?

I know just maybe getting them a s- different line mate, you know, shake things up.

They've been together, pretty well all playoffs and most of the year with Cutter, with, not Cutter, but Vex with the two veteran guys, and they kind of take care of them.

And, you know, just kind of get Vex, maybe frees him up a little bit, away from the, probably the, the higher, coverage or assignments against them.

Eric.

Yeah.

Joel, how much, you know, you had the early power play chances, obviously.

How much did you guys not getting frustrated with that and then also playing, say, a patient game, a more patient game tonight, factor into tonight?

And, and, and was this group that kind of patient before when you had, you know, trouble scoring early, early in games?

Well, I thought that, we had some great chances on the power play.

We didn't lose momentum in the games with the, with the game, I should say, with, you know, having so many quality opportunities.

When I say opportunities, great chances of five on three for a long time and, didn't capitalize.

You can usually, that can kill your team.

And, but I thought we did an outstanding job after that with our first kill of the game, which kind of, didn't get them, give the momentum back to them.

And, you know, we hung in there, hung in there, you know, nice play, and then we, we, we had some great opportunities to score first, and it was kind of comparable to the last game.

And, you know, finding a way to score first was important and, obviously a great goal on our second goal by Leo in that line.

Derek, and then Zach.

Mason McTavish and Liam Moore coming out for Ross Johnston and Jensen Harkins.

Both of those guys had an impact on the game tonight.

Just the rationale behind that decision.

I-- both guys have been skating last couple, you know, last series, this, this, this series as well, with a chance to-- they're, they're ready to play.

They're just waiting for the opportunity.

Ross, I thought that line all year long when the line that he was on was our most consistent line in every game.

And, you know, he brings that, you know, makes an impact on the game physically, but at the same time, you know, for a shift out there, he's got Jack Eichel with a puck coming down on a one-on-one and handled him pretty well.

So it was a good, indication that he was ready.

McTavish and Moore both went through warmups.

What's the dynamic in letting those guys know that they're not gonna be in the lineup?

It's ne-never easy, never e-easy decision, but I think we're, you know, it's not punishment.

It's, hey, we wanna have more troops in the, in the, in the, this series.

We think we're gonna need everybody.

and you know, that was basically the reason why I bring both of them in.

Zach's pointing at you.

Yeah, just to zone in on Mc-McTavish specifically.

I mean, he's a guy that is contract-wise a, a, a big player for this team and should be going forward.

Is there something that is missing from his game for you right now?

I don't think there's anything missing.

I think he's been, on our power play, didn't score, and he was pretty good, on our power play in the last series.

And, he seems like at this part of the season here, the latter part of the season, he has the puck a lot more, and he's been effective for us, in a lot of ways.

I mean, our centerman that we like in the middle, I think that's probably, where he's, he's missing the quality, ice time or his, what his normal position is.

but we just wanted to get a couple of guys in and, you know, but, we expect him at some point to make it back.

And then just the commitment to defense on all corners of the ice, it felt like it was the most complete two hundred foot game this team's put together on the first half.

I'm gonna say as good as we played, yeah, I, I think that, they get some luck.

So I mean, yeah, obviously, we're lucky two or three times there at the end where they had, empty looks at the net.

When I say empty, wide open.

we, we were, we were diving all over the place, ha- and lucky that it didn't go in.

But, certainly I thought our team game, with a purpose all game long was strong.

And, some of the defense part of our game was having some good puck, shifts possession-wise in the offensive zone.

And then just lastly, to, to see how locked in Lukas has been in these first two games after kind of an up and down opening round, what kind of confidence does that give you in him, going forward?

I think it's great for everybody, him primarily, and the guys in front of him, as well.

I think that, you know, we all know importance, of the, the position, and, it gets magnified in the playoffs and, grows in its importance as you go through it.

But it's a, well, it's two solid games.

Their goalie, you know, been tough.

So I think goal time's been outstanding in two games.

Nick, and then last question there.

Just following up on the defense question.

You know, one of your best defensive per-performances of the season, how encouraging is it to win a game like that going forward, like in this series?

That's not our tradition of, of, playing that type of game, low scoring affair when we, we score first, and we, we're leading throughout or tied throughout the whole game.

you know, I think that, we've had some stretches showing now over the course of the season, particularly late, that there, this is the only way you're gonna be successful in playoffs is you've got to win games like tonight.

And I think that, we showed that, it's gonna take everybody to, to play these type of games and, and I thought everybody contributed.

And it's one of those games you're pretty satisfied with, but, it's only gonna get tougher.

Joel, what's your problem now?

Was your team irritated over the year by the narrative that you guys couldn't play de-de-defense or you couldn't consistently defend?

I don't know if they were or not, but we certainly were, were beating that drum that, you know, we gotta find a way to keep the puck out of our net.

And, you know, we had some stretches when, when we do, we're hard-- we're, we're a good team.

And, you know, I think if you wanna win in the playoffs, you better keep the puck out of your net.

So that's, that's the mindset we should have right now and keep it going forward.

Okay.

Thanks, guys.

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