The Anaheim Ducks are feeling good about the possibility of ending their seven-year playoff drought, but there’s still plenty to clean up heading into their next game on Wednesday night at the San Jose Sharks.
The Ducks (41-28-5, 87 points) blew a two-goal third-period lead in a 5-4 overtime loss to the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night, preventing them from further extending their lead atop the Pacific Division.
Anaheim also lost leading goal scorer Cutter Gauthier to an upper-body injury on a cross-check late in the first period.
Gauthier will not play against the Sharks after not traveling with the team to San Jose. He is listed as day-to-day.
Ducks second-leading goal scorer Leo Carlsson had to be helped off the ice in the opening minute of the third period on Monday after getting his legs tangled, but he returned later in the third and scored the tying goal during 6-on-5 play with 1:39 left.
The Ducks have already made their third overall pick from the 2021 NHL Draft, forward Mason McTavish, a healthy scratch in back-to-back games in the middle of last month. Their third overall pick from the 2024 NHL Draft, forward Beckett Sennecke, could be next to watch from the press box.
Sennecke entered Tuesday tied for the NHL rookie lead in goals (22) and points (57), but his offensive-zone turnover in the third period on Monday led to the tying goal with just under 10 minutes remaining.
“We’ve got to be more mature and come out on top of these games,” Ducks defenseman John Carlson said. “We’re coming down the stretch. We’re running out of real estate to both collect as many points as we can and also feel good about how we’re playing.”
Sennecke was also benched in the third period of a 5-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks on March 24 following a costly turnover, and his offensive-zone giveaway in overtime led to the Philadelphia Flyers’ winning goal on March 18.
“We give him some freedom to do a lot of things,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Offensively, you don’t want to take away from him, but that’s sometimes where the trouble starts, so I think we’ve got to find that balance.”
The Sharks (34-31-7, 75 points) are still eyeing their first playoff appearance since 2019.
San Jose has won two in a row to stay two points behind the Nashville Predators for the final Western Conference wild-card spot entering Tuesday’s action.
The wins came against two of the hottest teams coming out of the Olympic break, the Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues.
The Sharks beat the Blue Jackets 3-2 on Saturday to cap a three-game road trip and then beat the Blues 5-4 on Monday in the opener of a six-game homestand.
“We’ve had a lot of resiliency in what’s gone on, and maybe some adversity or situations throughout games,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Our thing is just to just play and just compete. I thought our group did a really good job of that.”
Macklin Celebrini had two goals and an assist against the Blues to give him 101 points on the season, becoming the sixth teenager in NHL history and third player in team history to record 100 points in a season, joining Joe Thornton (114 in 2006-07) and Erik Karlsson (101 in 2022-23).
