It will be fan appreciation night Friday for the final home game of the Ducks’ 30th anniversary season, when they’ll be pitted against the Calgary Flames.
Of late, there’s been a theme of player appreciation, as the Ducks build solidarity from a season that’s featured just five winning streaks and only one longer than two games. They could obtain their sixth, as they’re coming off a 3-1 victory over the same Kings that the middling Flames will have played only a night earlier.
Though the Ducks remained without key figures like Mason McTavish and Pavel Mintyukov, they have seen three core forwards who sustained multiple injuries this season find health and, in turn, their strides: Leo Carlsson, Trevor Zegras and Alex Killorn.
Carlsson has three goals and four points in his last four games. The No. 2 overall pick in 2023’s draft missed matches due to three different injuries and narrowly avoided a fourth following a knee-on-knee collision last month. Ducks coach Greg Cronin has heaped praise on the young pivot, while he and Carlsson have been enthused by the resurgent play of Zegras. The fourth-year center, who missed long stretches due to a groin injury and a broken ankle, put up five points in his past five outings, each stronger than the last.
“Incredible hands. He drags the D on him and creates spaces for other guys,” said Carlsson, sending a plaudit from one playmaker to another.
Zegras, last year’s team leader in scoring, has been challenged by Cronin and his staff to become a more complete player and, despite missing 51 games this season, he’s shown flashes of accomplishing that.
“He can play to a higher standard than most guys can offensively, and that when he competes away from the puck, he just brings his game to a higher level, and I think it’s inspiring for his teammates to see,” Cronin said. “When he does things naturally well offensively, I think it gives guys confidence, and then when he puts the same investment in defensively, he becomes a role model.”
Zegras turned 23 last month and Carlsson celebrated his 19th birthday in December, but veteran Alex Killorn, 34, was bitten by the injury bug this season after a remarkably durable tenure with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He missed just four games across eight campaigns but he was out for 19 this year alone due to a broken finger and arthroscopic knee surgery.
Killorn, who won two Stanley Cups in Tampa and went to two additional Final series, picked up career point No. 500 in Sunday’s overtime loss to St. Louis.
“It means he’s old, right?” Carlsson joked. “It’s amazing, first year playing with him, but he’s an awesome guy, so he deserves it for sure.”
Killorn has scored 10 of his 18 goals as a Duck since Feb. 29 and 11 since completing his recovery from the knee procedure 12 days earlier. Killorn said that coming to a new team on a four-year contract worth $25 million with a first-year head coach, a new system and completely fresh way of doing things were all challenges even before his finger and knee issues limited his ability to compete and condition. He said he now felt better and that he was reaching the level at which he’d grown accustomed to playing.
“He’s way better. He’s got more jump, he’s more physical, he’s protecting pucks better. He’s more of a leader, he’s become more vocal,” Cronin said. “He and Leo have some chemistry, I think Leo looks up to him and why wouldn’t he? He’s got two Stanley Cups and he reinforces what the right play is at the right time of a game.”
From Leo to Cutter, the Ducks have some young talents that are already recognized somewhat widely on a first-name-only basis.
While the Ducks will have to wait for Cutter Gauthier – his Boston College team advanced to the national championship game with a 4-0 victory over Michigan on Thursday – they did officially bring another collegian into the fold. Western Michigan Star and 2020 second-rounder Sam Colangelo signed a two-year, entry-level contract on Thursday and appeared poised to make his Ducks debut Friday.
FLAMES AT DUCKS
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Honda Center
TV: KCOP (Ch. 13)
