It’ll 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…
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