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Ducks eye first winning record in five weeks ahead of faceoff with Kings – Whittier Daily News

Ducks eye first winning record in five weeks ahead of faceoff with Kings – Whittier Daily News

The Ducks will have an opportunity to climb above .500 for the first time in five weeks when they host the Kings in Friday’s post-holiday Freeway Faceoff matinee.

Both teams are coming off signature wins from Wednesday, with the Ducks having broken a chain of eight straight losses to the Kraken via a commanding 5-2 performance in Seattle, while the Kings knocked off the NHL’s best team by practically any barometer, the Winnipeg Jets, in a 4-1 thumping at home.

The Ducks had three multi-point performers, a perfect night (five-for-five) on the penalty kill and another tremendous performance from veteran John Gibson in goal. In the big picture, they felt they were coalescing around a better-defined identity.

“It took us a while to figure it out,” said rookie forward Cutter Gauthier to Victory+ after he piled up a goal and an assist Wednesday. “Playing super fast, playing north and not messing around with [the puck] around the blue lines.”

Gauthier was joined by Trevor Zegras and Alex Killorn as two-point producers. Meanwhile, Brett Leason scored a goal that moved his total to eight points in his past eight games. Veteran defenseman Brian Dumoulin played a game-high 30 shifts against his former team.

Gibson moved to 4-0-1 on the season, and the Ducks have collected nine of a possible 10 points in his five starts since Gibson recovered from an appendectomy.

“I feel pretty good with my reads. I just feel like I’m reading the play well, staying square, staying calm and just having fun,” Gibson told Victory+.

This season’s first Freeway Faceoff unfolded on Oct. 20, when the Kings dispatched the Ducks 4-1. Since then, both teams have continued to ebb and flow, with the Kings not surpassing two consecutive victories yet this year and the Ducks not getting above .500 since Oct. 22.

One area that has shown linear progress of late for the Ducks is their attack. It has produced more than three goals in a game just five times this season, but four of those instances have come in their eight games since Nov. 10.

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