The Anaheim Ducks have been down a lot this season, but they’re not always out.
After their latest come-from-behind victory, the Ducks will be looking to win two straight when they visit the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon.
Anaheim is coming off a 5-3 victory at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night. The Ducks fell behind 3-0 before rallying for the win.
It marked the fifth time this season that Anaheim has overcome a multi-goal deficit to win, tying the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks for the NHL lead entering play Friday.
The Ducks have won just 13 of their 46 games overall.
“At this point in the season, how tough things have gone for us, we still continue to fight and claw our way back,” Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said.
Anaheim’s best offensive players have been producing lately, too.
Adam Henrique has a goal in four straight games to give him a team-leading 16.
Trevor Zegras has three goals and three assists in a four-game point streak. He flipped a pass over the net to Sonny Milano to bat into the net the time the Ducks visited Buffalo.
Troy Terry hasn’t scored in the past 15 games, but Anaheim’s lone All-Star selection has five assists in the past four games to keep him atop the team lead with 38 points (12 goals, 26 assists).
Anaheim was without talented second-year center Mason McTavish against the Blue Jackets because of a lower-body injury. Isac Lundestrom, however, returned after missing 21 games with a broken finger and contributed two assists against Columbus.
The Sabres are coming off a satisfying 3-2 comeback win against the visiting New York Islanders on Thursday. Dylan Cozens scored 12 seconds into overtime, the second-fastest overtime goal in team history.
Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin set up the winning goal with a long-range flip pass right on the stick of Cozens for a breakaway.
The assist marked the 50th point of the season for Dahlin, who will turn 23 on April 13, making him the fourth-youngest defenseman in NHL history to reach the 50-point mark in a season.
Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey reached that mark twice before their 23rd birthday, and Denis Potvin once.
“I can’t even describe it anymore,” said Mattias Samuelsson, Dahlin’s defensive partner. “I don’t know if you can compare forwards to defensemen, but he’s the best D man in the league. It’s crazy. It’s the subtle plays every shift that are insane.”
The Sabres are also aware they need to produce the type of goals that won’t make the nightly highlight reel, such as the one by Alex Tuch that forged a 1-1 tie on Thursday.
Dahlin took a slap shot that was saved, but Tuch was in position to clean up the rebound.
“I think we need to score more goals that way,” Cozens said. “Just from shots from the point and getting to the greasy areas.”
–Field Level Media
