Anaheim Ducks evening news: The boys are back in town

The Winter Olympics recently concluded, and the NHL returned to regular season action, after a three week pause in the schedule. The Anaheim Ducks picked up right where they left off, by defeating the Edmonton Oilers by a final score of 6-5, securing their third win in a row.

The boys are back in town (well, almost)

Almost all of the Ducks Winter Olympics representatives were back on the ice, as Lukas Dostal, Radko Gudas, and Jackson LaCombe returned to their regular lineup positions. The only missing Olympian was Mikael Granlund, as he is still listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury, stemming from the bronze medal game against Slovakia.

Leo Carlsson also returned to the lineup after an 11-game absence, due to an injury. Carlsson made an immediate impact on the game, notching three points on the scoresheet, while centering the top line and was flanked by Beckett Sennecke and Alex Killorn.

Even without Granlund, the game against the Oilers was the most complete lineup the Ducks have had in weeks. Once Granlund does return, how the lineup is constructed will be something to monitor, as Ryan Strome and Drew Helleson were healthy scratched and seem to have fallen out of favor with the Ducks coaching staff.

1,000 wins

And speaking about the Ducks coaching staff, head coach Joel Quenneville got his 1,000th win behind an NHL bench, trailing only Scotty Bowman (1244). Despite the criticism of his appointment as the next Ducks head coach, Quenneville has definitely been an upgrade from a hockey tactics perspective, after the down years of the Greg Cronin and Dallas Eakins experiences.

While Quenneville does seem to favor tough guys like Jeffery Viel and Ross Johnston. Quenneville has also allowed young skaters like Carlsson, Mason McTavish, and Sennecke to play more prominent roles on the team, make mistakes, but also develop by learning from those mistakes. And after years of begging for the young guys to be given more ice time, Quenneville has at the very least, allowed them to grow, warts and all.

2nd place, but for how long?

With the win against the Oilers, the Ducks moved into second place in the Pacific Division with 65 points. While they may be only five points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for first, the Ducks are still just one point ahead of the Oilers (64) and two ahead of the Seattle Kraken (63). The Utah Mammoth are holding down the first wild card spot in the Western Conference with 64 points as well.

With so many teams within a couple points of each other, even a small losing streak could knock the Ducks out of a playoff spot. And as a consequence of a condensed schedule due to the Olympic break, the Ducks are nearly playing every other night until the end of the season. Even with an 8-2 record in their last ten games, the Ducks have to keep the pedal down, in order to fend off the competition and to make a playoff appearance, a reality.