As two of the younger teams in the NHL, many players on the Anaheim Ducks and Utah Hockey Club are getting their first taste of a playoff race.
Anaheim and Utah will continue their pursuit of a postseason berth when they meet Wednesday evening in Salt Lake City.
Both teams will be eager to add two points to their season total and attempt to get closer to the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
After earning points in three straight games (1-0-2) and six of the past seven (4-1-2), Utah sits three points behind the Calgary Flames in the hunt for the second wild card, while the Ducks are seven points behind Calgary.
Utah rallied from a 3-1 deficit to send the game into overtime Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks but lost 4-3.
Utah then stormed back from a 3-0 deficit Monday against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs by scoring three straight goals but lost 4-3 in a shootout.
“Really good effort. We need to build on it,” Utah defenseman Michael Kesselring said. “We need to keep playing that way into Anaheim because we need the two points.”
Utah general manager Bill Armstrong was concerned early in the season that his young players might needlessly burn energy or have trouble leveling their emotions, but that doesn’t appear to be a concern at this point of the season for coach Andre Tourigny.
“We talk about the youth of our team — we’re the second-youngest team in the league — there’s a growing curve for us,” Tourigny said. “The way the guys embrace it and the way they learn and progress, it’s amazing. That’s why we want to play those kinds of games, meaningful games. They’re in it.”
The Ducks hosted the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night and battled back from three one-goal deficits before surrendering the final three goals of the third period in a 7-4 loss.
Anaheim has lost four of six games since a 5-2 victory against the visiting Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 27 pulled them within six points of the final wild card.
“It’s terrible that we lost the game,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said after the defeat to the Capitals. “For me, it’s one of those games you can build on as a coach. We still will, but it adds more confidence to it when you win the game. But we’ll learn from it and we’ll move forward. We have no time to really lick our wounds; we’ve got to get ready for Utah.”
Anaheim received solid contributions from its defensemen against Washington: Jacob Trouba scored his first goal since his trade from the New York Rangers on Dec. 6, and Pavel Mintyukov and Drew Helleson also scored.
–FIeld Level Media
