Ducks fall behind early again, can't make comeback on Long Island

ELMONT, N.Y. – As they have found themselves so many times this season, the Anaheim Ducks were behind the eight ball early on Long Island, but unlike the many times before, including the final-second magic of last game, the Ducks could not overcome the opening deficit.

The New York Islanders put up a 3-0 lead, including two power play strikes, in the first period and reversed a late Ducks surge to hold on to a 5-2 victory on Thursday at UBS Arena.

“We had a really good first period, and we’re down three-nothing. I think that was the game right there in a nutshell,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville told local media. “We had good pace, good energy. They got the breaks, and we’re chasing the game after that. They check pretty good.”

Leo Carlsson pierced a corner off a four-on-four face-off cycle for the Ducks’ first goal, and Troy Terry pounced on the penalty kill to cut the lead to one in the third period.

Ville Husso stopped 32 of 37 shots.

This was the 20th time in 31 games that Anaheim has allowed the first goal and fourth time in the last five games. The Ducks are 9-10-1 when allowing the first goal. Conversely, they are 10-1-0 when scoring first.

Following an overtime win by the Vegas Golden Knights (15-6-9, 39 points), Anaheim (19-11-1, 39 points) is now tied on top of the Pacific Division in points, with Vegas earning the edge with one less game played.

The Ducks continue their five-game Eastern road trip at New Jersey on Saturday afternoon. Puck drops at 9:30 a.m. Pacific.

"We've had a decent start to the year, trying to get points every day," Quenneville said.

Net Front Nuisance

Again the defensive trouble area for the Ducks was directly in front of their goaltender, as the Islanders got two goals from Anders Lee parked at the net front for tips and rebounds.

The problem as it is simply comes from the way Anaheim orchestrates its defensive and, more specifically, its penalty killing scheme.

The Ducks do not engage with the man in front of the net, leaving the goaltender to try and look around the one-man screen. This leaves the Anaheim defenders free to do two things–one, not screen their own goaltender, and two, block shots.

The issue arises when the Ducks are not blocking shots, which then leaves the netfront man unbothered to either get his stick on the puck for a deflection or to cleanly retrieve rebound opportunities.

Lee did both, with a tip-in for the Islanders’ second goal and backhanding a rebound over Husso’s pad for New York’s second power play goal. Radko Gudas and Drew Helleson were split on the first shot, and Jackson LaCombe and Jacob Trouba on the second.

Offense Offline

With the Islanders taking advantage of their early power play opportunities and denied Frank Vatrano on a shorthanded breakaway, New York was able to sit back and try to clog up the Ducks offensively, and for the most part, the Islanders succeeded.

Anaheim was unable to establish much, if any, extended zone time, as the Islanders denied at the blue line and quickly whisked away second chances.

“It just felt like things escalated quickly in a short time in the first,” Troy Terry told team media. “I thought we had pushback, but that’s a good hockey team. They know how to close hockey games and not let you back in it.”

The best offensive pressure by the Ducks came on Leo Carlsson’s goal at four-on-four and late with the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker—both situations where the Islanders were up by three goals.

Carlsson won the offensive zone face-off–an area of struggle for him and the Ducks–and worked a cycle with Olen Zellweger and Troy Terry. Carlsson worked into open ice on the left flank to unleash a laser to the top right corner for his third goal in three games.

Anaheim’s only other offensive strike came shorthanded, as Ryan Poehling beat Islanders super rookie Matthew Schaefer back to a puck in the Islanders zone. Poehling fished the puck off the wall to feed a charging Terry, who finished the chance to cut the lead to one goal, 3-2.

However, the Islanders were opportunistic, with a partial breakaway from Simon Holmstrom four minutes later to kill the Ducks’ momentum, 4-2.

"When you get down 3-0 it gets a little wide open," Quenneville said. "You're trying to be so creative that it gets hazardous."

Anaheim did not sustain much more pressure until the extra attacker opportunities late.

Other Notes

-- In a match-up between Calder Trophy contenders, Ducks 19-year-old rookie forward Beckett Sennecke’s three-game multi-point streak ended at three, and Islanders 18-year-old rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer was second among all skaters with 25:19 time-on-ice, just 11 seconds behind Jackson LaCombe.

Sennecke, who leads all rookies with 26 points, is the 2024 No. 3 overall pick, and Schaefer, who is third among rookies with 22 points, was selected No. 1 overall in June.

-- Ville Husso played his eight game with the Ducks since his call-up from AHL San Diego on Nov. 26. Since Husso cleared waivers to go down to the AHL at the start of the season, the 30-year-old Finn will not be subject to waivers again until he has either played 10 NHL games or been on the active NHL roster for 30 days. 

Important things to remember for the Ducks goal crease with Lukáš Dostal’s return on the horizon, and Petr Mrázek about a week behind Dostál.

-- Dostál is traveling with the team, but he is still on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Dostál was given a two-to-three week recovery timeline, and Wednesday marked two weeks from his injury. Mrázek, who is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, was also given a two-to-three week timeline after being injured two Sundays ago.

New York sportswriter Allan Kreda contributed to this report.