Ducks’ Strong Third Not Enough in Home Finale Loss to Flames

Since his arrival in the Bobby Ryan trade in 2013, Silfverberg has successfully filled a variety of roles for the Ducks. Most notably, his dynamic shot, shutdown skills, and defensive tenacity made him an effective checking-line player in the mid-2010s alongside Ryan Kesler and Andrew Cogliano. Later, he played middle to bottom-six roles but retained a spot in special team situations, including this year. And finally, of course, there’s the off-ice impact he’s had on the young Scandinavian players in the Ducks locker room. Silfverberg has been a dedicated professional his entire Ducks career and deserves the flowers he received last night at Honda Center.

Ducks Had Nothing for the Flames for 40 Minutes

The Ducks offered little resistance to the Flames for most of the first two periods. A shorthanded goal less than five minutes into the game, which resulted from a breakdown in defensive coverage, was hardly a good omen for the night ahead.

Olen Zellweger, gifted offensively as he is, left eventual goal scorer Andrew Mangiapane alone in front of the net to go challenge a Flames shooter that was already being converged upon by other Ducks defenders. You just can’t do that. The defensive awareness needed to be better on that play; it left goaltender John Gibson completely out to dry. Despite producing the second goal of his career in impressive fashion (we’ll get into that later), Zellweger still finished at a minus-two. We saw the bad with the good, and vice versa, of his game tonight. These are things a player of his caliber will learn as he goes along. He is only 24 games into his NHL career, after all.

The Ducks had a chance to get one back when they went on the power play midway through the first, but man-of-the-evening Silfverberg took a lousy offensive zone penalty that wiped out the opportunity 15 seconds after it started. The Ducks really got absolutely nothing going thereafter, producing a meager 10 shots and an additional four penalties through 40 minutes.  

But Came Alive Briefly in the Third

Just when we thought the Ducks were going to limp their way to a finish, recently-signed Sam Colangelo recorded his first career goal when he buried a rebound that squeaked behind Dustin Wolf. If the Ducks were going to have any chance, they needed a goal early in the third, and they got it. Then, four minutes later, Trevor Zegras did Trevor Zegras things and fed a no-look behind-the-back pass to Frank Vatrano, who potted his 34th goal of the season. The Ducks officially had life, and the fans at Honda Center nearly blew the roof off the building.

Despite a questionable game on the defensive end, Zellweger, like many Ducks, found an offensive groove in the third period. He played with pace and got the puck to the right areas on a number of occasions, including his goal, where he moved with the puck until he found a good shooting angle. The way he can move and carry the puck, all while having his head up, is remarkable. Offensively, he is gifted. One thing to note, is that Alex Killorn deserves credit on the goal for the screen he placed on Wolf. He won’t get any scoresheet recognition on the goal, but his screen superbly kept Wolf from seeing the puck. Killorn continued his own stretch of strong offensive play in this one.

And Then There Were Two

On an emotional final night at Honda Center for one of the franchise’s longest-tenured players, the Ducks had moments but overall carried over no momentum from their impressive win on Tuesday (April 9) over the Los Angeles Kings. With two games left, the Ducks have nearly reached the finish line of their season. Before then, they have a fun opportunity to insert themselves into the Kings’ race with the Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Division standings. Let’s see if the Ducks can play spoiler once again. Puck drop is at 7:30 PM PST.