Ducks Come Up Short Against The Sharks

Photo: AP

By Thomas Harrington

The Anaheim Ducks hosted the San Jose Sharks. Lukas Dostal was in net against Yaroslav Askarov. Radko Gudas and Ross Johnston were both out due to an illness. Frank Vatrano (upper-body) also did not play.

The Sharks scored just over halfway through the first period. Alexander Wennberg got to the puck along the boards in the Ducks zone and did a spin-o-rama move sending the puck toward the net. Mario Ferraro was at the side of the net for the easy tap in goal.

The Ducks tied up the game with about five minutes to go in the period. Askarov got to the puck behind his net and Nikita Nesterenko knocked it loose towards the front of the next. Troy Terry got to the puck and tapped it into the empty net.

The Sharks retook the lead with just a minute left in the first period. After a turnover in the neutral zone, Wenneberg found Macklin Celebrini as he got behind the Ducks defense and then beat Dostal stick side.

San Jose extended their lead two goals early in the second period. The Ducks turned over the puck as they tried to get out of their zone. Celebrini got to the puck and found Igor Chernyshov in front of the net for the score.

The Sharks made it 4-1 a few minutes later. Celebrini stole the puck from Drew Helleson in the corner and then fed William Eklund in front for a one-timer which beat Dostal. Petr Mrazek came in as relief for Dostal.

The Ducks made it a 4-2 game before the period ended. Troy Terry put the puck on net and Cutter Gauthier redirected the shot past Askarov for the score.

Anaheim pulled within one early in the third period. Gauthier found Pavel Mintyukov in the slot and he beat Askarov glove side for the score.

San Jose scored to make it a 5-2 lead with just over six minutes to go. Zack Ostapchuk deflected a point past Mrazek.

Ducks pulled Mrazek with 4:58 left to go in the game. Terry would score his second of the game to once again get the Ducks back within a goal. A point shot hit Mason McTavish in the slot. He gathered the loose puck and found Terry open at the side of the net with a backhand pass for the score.

Anaheim had a power play and pulled Mrazek again, but the Ducks couldn’t get another goal and lost 5-4.

Analysis:

The Ducks played much better after their loss to the Kings over the weekend, but they still unfortunately found a way to lose. They got down early 2-1 in the first period and then were down 4-1 in the second period. Anaheim did fight back, but just came up one goal short.

Anaheim outshot San Jose 42 to 13. The Ducks put up 69 shot attempts to just 32 for the Sharks. Anaheim posted a CF% of 68.32% and a FF% of 73.97% at even strength. The Ducks generated 21 high danger chances to just 8 for the Sharks. By looking at these stats you would have thought Anaheim dominated on the scoreboard, but they didn’t.

Turnovers were a major key in this contest. The Sharks scored three times directly after turnovers by the Ducks. San Jose didn’t have many scoring chances in this contest, but they made them count.

Special teams weren’t a factor in this one as neither team scored with the man advantage. The Ducks went 0-for-3 on the power play, which continues to struggle. Something needs a change on the power play units.

Dostal had another rough outing and was pulled after the four goal in the second period. He hasn’t quite looked himself recently. Since returning from injury he has gone 2-5-0 giving up 23 goals total in those seven contests. Maybe he should get the night off on Wednesday.

Drew Helleson‘s play has also been rough lately. He played just over 11 minutes in the first two periods and then was benched in the third period. He was stripped for one goal in the second period and then nearly allowed the Sharks to score again in the final seconds of the second period. He has been caught out of position too many times lately.

On a positive note the Ducks did respond and play better overall from the last game. They are still scoring goals on most nights, they just need to clean up things defensively to get back in the win column.

What’s Next?

The Ducks host the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday at 1 PM.

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December 29th, 2025