Ducks flying high, confident early-season success can lead to playoff berth

Mason McTavish is confident the Anaheim Ducks can qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in six seasons.

"One hundred percent, yes," the Ducks forward told NHL.com this week. "That's been the goal ever since training camp. There's a lot of pride in being a hockey player, being in the NHL, and I think for the guys that were here last year, it was terrible. We were dead last, not competing, and it just went sideways so fast."

His prediction might not be too far-fetched. The Ducks (6-4-0) are on a five-game winning streak heading into their showdown with the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights at Honda Center on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS, BSSD, BSSC). It’s the Ducks’ longest winning streak since winning eight straight from Oct. 31-Nov. 16, 2021.

Their start this season is completely opposite to how they played last season, when they went 23-47-12, with 58 points, the lowest in the NHL. They allowed the most goals (338), had the second-fewest goals scored (209), and produced the worst goal differential (minus-129), causing general manager Pat Verbeek to question their level of compete.

"I think we've done a great job of kind of changing those habits," McTavish said. "I mean, we still have a long way to go, but I think we're going to get better. Every time you start a season, you got to want and make sure everybody is on the same page, wants to make the playoffs and do everything they can to win."

It's a belief first-year coach Greg Cronin established early, and players have responded.

"I think he's really getting a lot out of most of the guys, he's super dialed into systems and structure and I think he's emphasized competing hard for pucks, winning 50-50 battles and stuff you can kind of control," McTavish said. "Turnovers, getting pucks deep, you can control those. He keeps hammering down on that. I think that's been really huge and why you see guys having success."

After qualifying for the playoffs six straight seasons and reaching the Western Conference Final in 2015 and 2017, Anaheim has finished no higher than sixth in the Pacific Division the past five seasons. It's the longest stretch of non-playoff appearances for Anaheim since entering the NHL in 1993-94.

"I think the biggest thing that sticks out would be the resiliency," McTavish said. "When you look back at the games, you're like, 'Wow, we've been down, and we've been coming back a lot.'

"Obviously, we want to play with the lead, but it's nice to know we can kind of score goals when we're down so hopefully we can keep building on it."

The Ducks have four wins this season after trailing in the third period, which is the most in the NHL.

"It's huge for our group," goalie Lukas Dostal said. "I think it's huge for our young core, and we're just going to build on it."

That young core has played a significant part of the success.

McTavish, a 20-year-old center who is one of four alternate captains this season, has an NHL career-high six-game point streak (four goals, five assists). Dostal, 23, has won four straight starts in the absence of John Gibson (upper-body injury). Defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, 19, is the ninth-youngest defenseman in NHL history to have at least seven points (one goal, six assists) in his first 10 career games. Leo Carlsson, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, has three goals, which tied Oleg Tverdovsky (three goals in 36 games) for the most by an 18-year-old in Ducks history.

And then you have a player like 29-year-old forward Frank Vatrano, an 11-year NHL veteran whose nine goals have him tied with Alex DeBrincat of the Detroit Red Wings for the League lead.

"The maturity of this team is growing, I think," forward Troy Terry said. "You saw it in a (4-3 overtime) win (against the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 1) where we maybe didn't have our best game but were able to kind of keep them to the outside, and score on our opportunities."

McTavish is honored to be wearing a letter on his jersey but is more concerned about the team showing greater consistency. He said veterans such as Adam Henrique, Ryan Strome, Cam Fowler, Terry and Gibson have been huge in the locker room.

"I try not to change too much but it's kind of tough ... it's not like you feel you're not deserving (to wear a letter) but you just look around and you see all the older guys who have gone through so much," McTavish said. "The big thing for me is just trying not to change what I've been doing and almost pretend (the letter) isn't there."

McTavish can pretend all he wants, but he's showing signs of leadership each day. Take his improvement on face-offs, winning 53.8 percent of his draws (71-for-132) to lead the Ducks.

"I think I got a lot faster, a lot stronger, in the offseason," he said. "I've paid attention to how the linesperson drops the puck. Also, it's getting more comfortable with your linemates (Strome and Vatrano) and talking to them ... me. I'm telling them every single face-off to get ready to jump in if it's a 50-50 puck.

"You guys got to win it, I tell them. They're probably sick and tired of hearing it, but I don't think I would have done that my first year (2021-22). I think I'm more comfortable with my teammates, so you just kind of grow into it."

It's that exact attitude, growth, and confidence that have the Ducks optimistic that better days are ahead. Perhaps sooner than most might think.