Just nine games in, the Ducks’ season has been a seesaw affair, but at 5-3-1 it has seen more ups than downs as they head into a Halloween clash with the Detroit Red Wings.
Fittingly, the Wings, who are one of just two NHL franchises with a longer playoff drought than the Ducks, have risen from the dead, with a 7-3-0 start entering their back-to-back set with the Kings on Thursday and Ducks on Friday.
That built on their momentum after a midseason coaching change last year, when Todd McClellan returned to Motown. Under McLellan, they have a .603 points percentage in parts of two campaigns.
The Ducks made their coaching change in the spring, when the axe fell on Greg Cronin despite a 21-point improvement in the standings and the recently reinstated Joel Quenneville was brought in to take the Ducks to the next level.
So, too, were Chris Kreider and Mikael Granlund, though Kreider (illness) has missed the past four games and Granlund will be out two to three weeks, Quenneville told reporters in Florida. The Ducks were also without captain Radko Gudas (lower body) for half of their five-game road trip, with rookie Ian Moore filling in effectively.
Even so, they cobbled together seven of a possible 10 points, including a whirlwind win in Boston and a resilient shootout victory over the battered but still defending champion Panthers in what Lukáš Dostál called the Ducks’ “best game of the season.”
“I thought it was a really good trip,” Dostál told reporters. “We were hoping that we would also get some points from (a 4-3 regulation loss) in Tampa, but when we recap the road trip, I think we did a great job, and we have to keep moving forward.”
The Ducks struck first twice on the road trip, their only two times opening the scoring so far, with both those efforts translating to second-intermission leads and wins. Their opponents from the Motor City have slammed the door early and often, going 6-0-0 when leading through 40 minutes in 2025-26.
Overall, there’s excitement and suspense back in the Ducks’ midst, though the same was true for the early part of Cronin’s tenure, which was overflowing with twists, turns and comebacks.
Another constant across stewards has been Dostál, who was the foremost reason for the Ducks’ improvement last year and has continued to be their backbone this season. Over the span of the trip, he placed second in saves per game and third in total saves while finishing in the top 10 in save percentage despite the heavy workload. He exalted at the end of the trip as he made a game-winning save in the shootout against Florida in a match where the Ducks led 2-0, off of two special-teams goals no less, but ultimately had to scrape and claw for their two points.
Dostál has been better supported offensively this season, with Kreider, Granlund, Troy Terry and scoring leader Leo Carlsson all producing at a point-per-game pace. Terry topped the team with just 55 points last year and the Ducks haven’t had a point-per-game player for a full season since 2013-14, when Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry combined for 169 points.
Still, Carlsson, their leading scorer, was eager to acknowledge Dostál when given the opportunity by rinkside reporter Aly Lozoff.
“I think that we’re all in awe of Lukáš; he’s a huge part of our team,” Carlsson told Victory+. “He’s going to be the best goalie in the league soon, for sure.”
Detroit at Ducks
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Honda Center
TV: Victory+, KCOP (Ch. 13)