A dozen games into the Joel Quenneville era, the Ducks have already eclipsed much of their recent and regrettable history.
Heading into a road trip that will send them to Dallas to stare down the Stars and then to Vegas for a joust with the Golden Knights, the Ducks’ current four-game winning streak matches their strongest surge from all of last season.
Their league-leading offense, at 3.92 goals per game, has also put up a touchdown three times already this year. That’s after having scored seven or more goals in a game just twice in the past three seasons under Dallas Eakins and Greg Cronin. Across the six-year span of those coaches’ respective tenures, the Ducks had the lowest-scoring output in the NHL, a result they’ve inverted early.
Oh, and the bottom line? The Ducks are in first place in the Pacific Division for the first time in nearly five years. Their four-game spike was bookended by two wins over a Florida Panthers team in search of a Stanley Cup title three-peat and included victories against two other top teams from the Eastern Conference in the early going, the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings.
“With every win comes more confidence. We can feel it in the room,” forward Nikita Nesterenko said. “Especially when you get results against the back-to-back champs. When you put up seven goals on them, you know you feel good about yourself. Hopefully we can keep it going, keep the momentum, because hockey’s all about momentum.”
The Ducks haven’t had a start this strong since 2014-15, when they reached Game 7 of the Western Conference finals against the Chicago Blackhawks, who were guided by none other than Quenneville.
For his part, the 67-year-old coach and winner of the second-most games in NHL history said he was enthused by how his young club managed a gauntlet of tough opponents, but far from satisfied.
“We had a great homestand, you look at those three games, we did a lot of good things each and every night against good hockey teams. We’re going to have to do the same thing going away,” Quenneville said. “I think our team’s improving on a game-to-game basis … all aspects of our game, we’re pleased with, but we’re not content, we want to get better.”
Cutter Gauthier’s first career NHL hat trick on Tuesday catapulted him into a five-way tie for the league lead in goals. He and Leo Carlsson, who is in the top five in points per game leaguewide, each have seven-game point streaks.
Outside of the jettisoning of Trevor Zegras – he has 15 points in 13 games as a Philadelphia Flyer, putting him on pace for a career-best campaign – the early going has vindicated Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek, well beyond his decision to hire Quenneville.
His selections of Carlsson and Beckett Sennecke raised a few eyebrows, but both have only seen their stock rise, and more rapidly than anticipated. The addition of Gauthier via trade from Philly has proven a masterstroke, while former New York Rangers like Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba (both have three-game point streaks) have proven to be shrewd acquisitions.
Next up, they’ll face a club that’s been to three consecutive conference finals and four during this decade in Dallas and the 2023 Stanley Cup champs in Vegas. Both franchises loaded up with a prolific winger in his prime, with the Stars snagging Mikko Rantanen at the trade deadline last season and Vegas bagging coveted free agent Mitch Marner over the summer.
DUCKS AT STARS
When: Thursday, 5 p.m. PT
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas
TV/radio: Victory+, KCOP (Ch. 13)