Burn the Fleet: Blackhawks at Ducks Preview

1 week ago  /  Second City Hockey

Chicago’s weeklong road trip wraps up from the OC on Saturday night as the Blackhawks face the Anaheim Ducks.



Anaheim’s been one of the hottest teams over the last month with a record of 8-2-1 since Jan. 22, including a 5-2 win over the Canucks on Thursday night in their most recent game. The Ducks have been pretty bad in most areas overall this season: 5-on-5, special teams, etc. That hasn’t really changed in the last month but the PDO of 104.6 in those last 11 games — the second highest mark in the league — suggests puck luck has had a strong hand in Anaheim’s recent hot stretch. Quality goaltending has certainly helped, with Lukas Dostal playing especially well over this span, punctuated by a sparking 44-save outing against the LA Kings on Feb. 8. Both he and John Gibson have been consistent all season, providing a solid back-end to a team that has needed it.



While the Ducks are still in rebuild mode, the top trio of scorers are on the older side: Troy Terry is 27 (team-high 45 points), Ryan Strome is 31 (34 points) and Frank Vatrano is 30 (33 points). A trio of youngsters, who are all under 25: forward Mason McTavish (31 points), defenseman Jackson LaCombe (29 points) and forward Cutter Gauthier (25 points). Leo Carlsson, the runner-up prize to Bedard in the 2023 NHL Draft, has 23 points (11 G, 12 A) in 52 games which is roughly in line with the pace of 29 in 55 he had as a rookie as he continues navigating the high expectations associated with his draft selection. It’s probably not the most potent attack in the NHL, but it’s certainly been getting the job done lately.



The blue line also has Jacob Trouba on it, so be prepared for an unnecessary flying elbow at all times. But there will probably be acres of space available behind Trouba once he skates himself out of position to throw an ultimately pointless hit. Expect Anaheim’s lines to look an awful lot like it did at practice on Friday:



Ducks practice lines today:

Vatrano-Strome-Terry
McTavish-Carlsson-Killorn
Gauthier-Lundeström-Colangelo
*Zegras/Johnston-Harkins-Leason

LaCombe-Gudas
Mintyukov-Trouba
Dumoulin-Helleson
Zellweger

Gibson-Dostál-Dansk

*suspended

#FlyTogether— Derek Lee (@dereklee27.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 1:20 PM



As for the Hawks, Friday’s practice came after a few roster moves, with Nolan Allan heading back to Rockford while Wyatt Kaiser and Andreas Athanasiou returned to the parent club with recent injuries to Nick Foligno and Philipp Kurashev possibly leaving them out for this one. Athanasiou hasn’t played in NHL game since October, as he was seemingly a forgotten man within the organization who’d been skating with Rockford for several months.



But now he’s on the top line at the NHL level:



Blackhawks lines in practice in Anaheim:Athanasiou-Bedard-BertuzziSlaggert-Nazar-DachTeravainen-Donato-MikheyevMaroon-Reichel-SmithDel Mastro-JonesVlasic-MartinezKaiser/Murphy/Brodie rotating— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 28, 2025



Granted, there was a different head coach running things when Athanasiou was banished to the AHL, so perhaps Sorensen believes he can get something more out of Athanasiou this time around.



We’re trying to be optimistic here, people.



Let’s go Hawks.







Tale of the Tape



Blackhawks — Statistic — Ducks43.99% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 45.71% (30th)42.99% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 43.91% (30th)2.66 (28th) — Goals per game — 2.55 (t-31st)3.53 (30th) — Goals against per game — 3.02 (20th)44.9% (31st) — Faceoffs — 44.0% (32nd)25.5% (6th) — Power play — 12.7% (31st)80.9% (t-8th) — Penalty kill — 74.4% (27th)



How to Watch



When: 9 p.m. CTWhere: Honda Center, AnaheimTV: CHSNWebstream: ESPN+, HuluRadio: WGN 720...

Read Full Article.