The Ducks are set to begin a crucial stretch with six of seven games at home – the seventh being an excursion to downtown LA – beginning with their back-to-back set Friday and Saturday at Honda Center.
They’ll host the Dallas Stars and then the Columbus Blue Jackets, who bettered the Ducks in overtime off Adam Fantilli’s game-winner in their most recent match, a 4-3 loss on Tuesday.
That was the Ducks’ second defeat in a game that went beyond the allotted 60 minutes this season and their first since falling 2-1 at Chicago way back on Oct. 19. The Ducks trailed 3-1 in the second period, but salvaged a point in Columbus.
“We did a lot of good things and we did some things that, you know, were generous, but at the same time we’ll take the point on the road down by two,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville told reporters.
The Ducks have gotten less generous over the course of the campaign. Last year, they were 32nd of 32 NHL clubs in terms of spending the most time in their defensive zone and the least on the attack. Early in this campaign, improvement could mostly be seen by squinting, but they are now in the top 10 in offensive zone, defensive zone and neutral zone time, per NHL Edge stats.
Where they are still struggling is on special teams. They finished dead last in power-play conversion rate in 2024-25 and fourth from the bottom in penalty-kill percentage.
Despite an overhaul that saw them change their head coach and hire three new assistants, including two in charge of special teams, as well as significant personnel additions, both sides of the special-teams coin remain rusty overall.
They rank 21st on the power play and 26th on the penalty kill in 2025-26. Since Nov. 10, however, their man-advantage ineffectiveness has been the most egregious in the league at 11.1%. Since Dec. 8, it’s produced at an even more paltry 8.3% clip.
This month, their penalty kill has improved, its 83.3% effectiveness placing the Ducks in a four-way tie for 11th in the NHL.
That will have to persist against Dallas, whose second-ranked power play operates in tandem with its 10th-rated penalty kill. Columbus’ No. 30 PK might give the Ducks a chance to break through with the man advantage.
The Stars could become the second team this season to have three 40-point scorers, a feat already accomplished by the Colorado Avalanche. Their coup at the trade deadline netted them top point-producer Mikko Rantanen, a former Av, and Arcadia product Jason Robertson has also hit the 40-point mark while pacing Dallas in goals. Wyatt Johnston’s next point will be his 40th, whether it comes in San Jose on Thursday or against the Ducks on Friday.
Zach Werenski’s 36 points in 33 games not only lead the Blue Jackets but are more than every defensemen leaguewide except for Colorado phenom Cale Makar’s 40 points.
Dallas at Ducks
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Honda Center
TV/radio: Victory+, KCOP (Ch. 13)
Columbus at Ducks
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Honda Center
TV/radio: Victory+, KCOP (Ch. 13)