The Ducks continue their tour of northeast Canada tonight with the second half of a back-to-back, facing off with the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
PUCK DROP: 4 P.M. PT | WATCH: VICTORY+ | AUDIO: DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER
Anaheim gets right back to work after a frustrating 5-1 loss last night in Ottawa. The Ducks fell behind early on a couple of tough breaks in the first period, and would not be able to respond as the Sens rode a four-point night from Drake Batherson to a comfortable win.
"We weren't skating and they were jumping from the opening faceoff," head coach Greg Cronin said. "They won faceoffs and faceoff battles. They won edge battles. They won puck battles. It's hard to compete when you're behind the puck. Give them a lot of credit. They were waiting for us, they jumped on us and we couldn't get into a rhythm."
The Ducks did welcome back center Leo Carlsson to the lineup after a seven-game absence to a lower-body injury. Carlsson skated alongside Brett Leason and Alex Killorn and finished the night with two hits and one shot attempt in 13:35 of ice-time.
"We didn’t execute our passes correctly,” Carlsson said. “Us forwards didn’t show up like they did, and that’s how you need to play. Ottawa players just came harder.”
The loss dropped Anaheim to 10-13-4 on the season and pushed the club's winless skid to four games.
"We turn the page and move on," Cronin said. "We wash it out. We don't have any time. Have to move on to the next one."
That next one comes less than 24 hours later and is quite a tough test, a matchup against a Toronto team with points in seven of its last 10 games and one of the top records in the Eastern Conference. The Leafs last played on Tuesday, rallying from a 1-0 deficit to earn an overtime victory in New Jersey on captain Auston Matthew's game-winner.
"Our goalie (former Duck Anthony Stolarz) kept us in it," Toronto coach Craig Berube said. "In the third period, we started to play better and more aggressive. We controlled the play a little more. First two periods, they had the puck. We didn't get it from them.
"Third period was better. We went to work. Started to do some things where we controlled the play a little bit more. It's one of those games. I'm not going to read into it too much, I'm not going to talk about it too much. Our goalie was excellent and we found a way to get two points. That's all that matters."
Toronto (17-9-2, 36 points) sits second in the Atlantic Division.
