The Anaheim Ducks aim to open their four-game road trip with a second consecutive win Thursday night when they visit the floundering Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Ducks started their trip Tuesday night with a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on the strength of three consecutive goals in a 1:44 span of the second period. That improved them to 8-2-0 in their past 10 games.
“A month ago, it was a different situation,” said Ducks forward Alex Killorn, who had a goal and an assist Tuesday. “Then we go on a run, and now we’re first in the Pacific. You try not to think about it too much, but it’s just one of those things that it’s so tight, every game is so important.”
“We’ve got a good mix, we’ve got good balance,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville added. “We know we can score goals, and (Tuesday) is a good thing to bounce back to, about knowing that we can check, too.”
The victory followed a 4-0 home loss to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
“We want to do one thing,” Quenneville said. “We want to make the playoffs. That’s our priority, that’s our goal. You don’t want to look past our next opponent.”
Their next opponent basically has played its way out of playoff contention since the Olympic break. The Maple Leafs have not won since Feb. 3, a 5-2 road decision over the Edmonton Oilers that took them into the break on a three-game winning streak.
The Maple Leafs dropped their eighth in a row (0-6-2) on Tuesday, a 3-1 road loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
“I think parts of all the games we’ve been playing, we’ve been playing snippets of good hockey, and that’s not how we want to play,” said William Nylander, who scored Toronto’s goal.
Montreal controlled the first period when they took a 2-0 lead while holding an 18-5 advantage in shots on goal.
“They definitely had the play in the first for sure, had the puck,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “You know, we didn’t check it off them, and then when we did, we didn’t do anything with the puck.”
The winless streak is the Maple Leafs’ longest since an 11-game drought (0-10-1) during the 2014-15 season.
Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews did not score Tuesday for the 12th straight game, one short of the longest scoring drought of his career.
Benoit-Olivier Groulx, recalled from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, played 14:13 in his first NHL game since April 12, 2024, and had a good scoring chance and two shots on goal.
Groulx led Marlies scorers with 27 goals and 50 points this season.
“It’s been difficult the past few years, with injuries and not playing,” Groulx said. “It’s rewarding, all the work I’ve done the past few years, to get back to the NHL.”
In Anaheim’s win over the Jets, Ryan Poehling and Jackson LaCombe joined Killorn in contributing one goal and one assist.
“This was one of our most complete games when you look at three periods,” Killorn said. “A lot of games, we’ve been down and had to come back. We were down here (Tuesday), but for a majority of the game, we played the right way. It was a great game for our team. …We didn’t make any stupid turnovers. They’re going to get chances, it’s going to happen, but I thought we limited them as much as we could.”
Anaheim had a 35-13 advantage in shots on goal.
