Anaheim Ducks coach Joel Quenneville will get his first opportunity to see how his young team responds following a loss when they visit the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.
After taking an early two-goal lead in the opening period against the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, the Ducks gave up five straight goals in the second period of the 5-2 loss.
“We got a market correction (against the Oilers), let’s see how we handle it,” Quenneville said. “Let’s respond in the correct way.”
Anaheim had opened the season with impressive wins against the more experienced Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers, then looked like the better team through the first period on Wednesday against Edmonton.
But the Oilers scored 11 seconds into the second, opening the floodgates for four more goals in the period.
“It’s the first time we looked like we were in the watching mode instead of the anticipating and the forcing mode,” Quenneville said. “It’s early in the year and we had one bad stretch in the first nine periods.”
The Ducks scored all their goals in the past two games on the power play, going 5-for-11 with the man-advantage, a positive sign for a unit that was last in the NHL as recently as two seasons ago.
Quenneville said a little more determination around the net should help their 5-on-5 production.
“We’ve got to look to be a grinding team around the net and bury the ones we get,” he said.
The Jets improved to 3-0-1 with their third straight 3-2 win on Wednesday at the Colorado Avalanche.
Kyle Connor scored two goals against the Avalanche and Cole Perfetti scored for the third straight game.
Perfetti, 24, scored 19 goals for the Jets during the 2023-24 season and seemed destined to be a regular 20-goal scorer, but finished with 18 goals in 2024-25 and dipped to 12 last season.
Jets coach Scott Arniel said Perfetti is beginning to thrive playing on the same line with veteran playmakers Connor and Mark Scheifele.
“Now, he’s got them figured out,” Arniel said. “(Connor and Scheifele) play at a very high rate and a high pace, and it’s all about trying to be one step ahead of them. Just kind of knowing where that next play’s going to happen. But he’s put the work in, too. They’re giving him the opportunities and he’s making sure that he does what he has to do for that line.”
Winnipeg lost defenseman Josh Morrissey to an upper-body injury late in the first period against Colorado after he delivered a hit to forward T.J. Hughes. Morrissey briefly returned before departing for good.
“We’ll check on it (Thursday) and see how it is,” Arniel said.
The Jets’ bench boss was appreciative of how his team responded defensively after Morrissey left, especially the forwards.
“Our forwards had to do some heavy lifting to help our ‘D,'” Arniel said. “That means they have to pour back and make sure they’re helping those guys get back for the breakouts, helping them defend. Those five guys, there was a lot of ice coming off (our previous) four games. There was a lot of work for those guys. They did a real good job.”