Rookie Face-Off: Ducks v Sharks

The second day of the Rookie Faceoff in Irvine was a tad less raucous than the night before against the cross-town rival Kings. For one our seat mates were a lot more accommodating (read: they were not obnoxious Kings fans) and for the other there was just too much action to get settled into getting a good chant going!

The game saw the teams trade goals early before the Sharks pulled ahead in the second period but the Ducks were able to pick up their game and tie things up in the third to send things to overtime. They almost pushed things to a shootout and came agonizingly close on back to back breakaways but in the end the Sharks took it on a counter-rush as a tired Ducks defense looked on.

Lines and defensive pairings were as such:

Forwards:

Jones – Lundestrom – Tracey

Kopacka – Morand – May

Dostie – Groulx – Sherwood

Gates Jr. – Wouters – Sideroff

Defense:

Ruggiero – Larsson

Hill – Moldenhauer

Davidson – Drew

Goal:

Durny

Eriksson-Ekk

Note: 2018 late first rounder Brayden Tracey made his debut on the top line. Standouts from last night action including Comtois, Terry and Steel were sat to make room for players we had yet to see with the aforementioned Tracey as well as ATO Wouters and May inserted. On defense Guhle, Benoit and Mahura were sat to make room for Larsson, Ruggiero and Moldenhauer.

Player evaluations for those whom I managed to get some notes on – are as follows:

#32 Jacob Larson – Much like Terry, Larsson probably shouldn’t have been in this tournament and although I wasn’t down on his game. He also didn’t dominate the opposition like he should have given his experience. He also didn’t stand out a heck of a lot to me which I know is what we have come to expect from him but it was levels below what I saw of him last in the Gulls postseason run where he was by far their best defenceman. There were times on the Penalty Kill where he got caught not once but twice on the wrong side, leaving his man unmarked in-front. I am assuming this was because he was being used on his off-side and he kept forgetting which side he was supposed to be on. He lost his man on the Sharks fourth goal as again he appeared to be out of position and overall he did not look comfortable playing his off-side at all.

#48 Isaac Lundestrom – Lundestrom had a somewhat timid first period but exploded after the first intermission. He was making carries from his own end, leading rush after rush, making zone entry after zone entry and skating through the Sharks with ease. At one point he even stripped the Sharks of possession in the defensive zone, skated it up ice, gained speed and passed the puck to himself off the far boards in the offensive zone to generate his own scoring chance. He had an assist on Max Jones power play goal, protecting the puck and placing it back for Sherwood. He essentially did everything but score the game winning goal on his breakaway in the overtime session. If he can keep that sort of play up he is going to be an absolute force for the Gulls on their top line.

#49 Max Jones – In his second game of action Jones took more of a leadership role. He was always in the mix when players got together and was the foil to the Sharks agitators in the form of Merkley and Viel. He scored on the man advantage – accepting a perfect pass from Sherwood as he slashed across the neutral zone to get a partial break; beating the Sharks goaltender with a quick snapshot. He almost stole a goal when he stripped a Sharks defender of the puck down low but was stopped. He excelled on the man advantage where he could better exude his power game, generating shots and chances by shrugging off opponents. He also created the Sherwood Power Play marker by drawing three Sharks players to him during a puck battle on the wall near the right point.

#50 Benoit-Olivier Groulx – Was used on the point on the second Power Play unit but excelled when retrieving pucks down low at even strength. Was not the speediest of forwards, missing out on a breakaway when he could not beat the lone Sharks defender back to the puck part way through the second. He did not particularly stand out to me at five on five.

#54 Antoine Morand – Looked very good on the second Power Play unit in the middle frame, getting a zone entry, dishing passes and winning puck battles. He almost had the game-tying goal two minutes into the third when he stripped a Sharks defender of the puck coming out of the corner, making a nice move as he came out front but the net-minder was patient and stayed with him. Again he looked brilliant on the Power Play in the third, this time on the first unit, setting up shop at the top of the left hash-marks, getting a shot off and firing a beautiful pass across to Jones at the backdoor but the Sharks net-minder managed to make a last minute save. He made a very nice back to back spin move to shake fore-checking pressure in the third.

#55 Brent Gates Jr. – Played best around the Sharks net or in a Penalty Killing role, came close to finishing a cross-net pass from Sideroff on a two on one break and almost returned the favor a moment later on the same shift. Consistently made the smart or heads-up play while also being the defensive conscious on his line, breaking up or deflecting a shot at the last moment on more than one occasion.

#56 Brayden Tracey – Made his Rookie Face-off debut and did not disappoint, despite draft-bio descriptions stating that his skating and speed was subpar I thought he looked pretty damn fast and showed great acceleration. His game is shifty, despite his size he seemed to excel at losing his would-be defenders with quick stops, spin moves and angle shifts. He also – despite his size – was not shy about joining any post whistle scrums or taking the hit to finish a play. His game-tying goal on the Power Play in the third period was a textbox snipers goal, as he pulled the shot in at the last moment to change the shooting angle after the defender had gone down to block. He made a very nice pass to Lundestrom with five minutes left in the third, looking as patient as a third year pro as he waited for the Swedish center to enter the zone with speed. In the overtime session he was denied on the breakaway but did not give up on the play, collecting the rebound and coming back in before again retrieving the puck behind the net after failing to score. I really really like his tenacity and hereby anoint him the Honey Badger.

#57 Alex Dostie – Had a quiet first period but had a good scoring chance with three and a half minutes left in the second after getting a nice feed from Sherwood but he could not beat the Sharks net-minder in close. Sometimes appeared to lack awareness – for example he held onto the puck just a few seconds too long when he could have generated a scoring chance circling the Sharks zone in the third period soon after the Sherwood goal.

#59 Jack Kopacka – Was more noticeable with less fire-power around him, I paid particular attention to his ability to create himself some space and get a shot away quickly. He also made a few zone entries using his speed and frame to protect the puck as well as displaying some soft hands in tight quarters but needed to be quicker at making plays. He was also not afraid to take on the odds, attempting to stick handle in traffic among two or more Sharks at once on several plays.

#66 Steven Ruggiero – Given his story; I wanted to see how the 2015 draft pick would do in his fist real rookie tournament game. Throughout the night he made some subtle yet smart plays, including quick one-touch passes at the blue-line to reduce pressure on himself. Both he and Larsson lost their men on the Sharks fourth goal with Ruggiero allowing his to make the pass in front.

#72 Hunter Drew – Stepped up in the absence of Mahura and Benoit, continued his strong physical play and got the Ducks first goal of the night. Rescuing a lackluster Power Play just as it had ended – he collected a loose puck, looped into a hole in the near slot and fired a hard shot high top corner. He also stood up for team-mates, notably his line-mate Davidson after he was boarded in the Ducks end midway through the first. He was also great on the Penalty Kill, identifying the vanguard player the Sharks would feed over the blue-line and immediately stepping into him. He looked the most polished, poised and composed of all the Ducks defenders on the night, including Larsson.

#73 Matthew Hill – Was as advertised at his drafting this off-season – which is in a word – Huge. There didn’t appear to be a heck of a lot else to his game other than that but at the same time he didn’t seem to make too many mistakes or glaring errors.

#75 Dawson Davidson – Seemed to be having a much better game than his previous outing, involving himself in the play more, making good outlet passes etc. But then he turned the puck over down low with seemingly little to no pressure on him to give the Sharks the go-ahead third goal in the second period. He had manged to break up a Sharks play but then aimlessly backhanded a pass back into the high slot for some reason where it found Sharks public enemy no.1 Jeffrey Viel. Dineen didn’t bench the kid after the gaff though – he was given time on the first Power Play unit later in the second where he had the one mistake of losing track of the puck when it came back to his point, causing his line-mates to tag up. He was also trusted with being the first defender to start the three on three overtime session and made a very nice pass from the left of the Ducks net out to Lundestrom to send him on a breakaway.

#77 Johno May – Knew his role and did what he does best. He brought the physical play, went in the corners to win puck battles and stood in front of the Sharks net in an attempt to use his sizable frame to block out the sun.

#80 Deven Sideroff – Was looking good with the opportunities he was getting; on one play generating a two on one with Gates Jr. using his speed to beat the defender along the boards. He and Gates seemed to have some good chemistry going early on. He also appeared to be the pseudo-designated Captain as he came on to discuss the Sharks goal that wasn’t a goal with Officials. He did not appear to play in the third period but it did not appear to be injury related – more likely due to the multitude of Power Plays and Four on Four play that was seen through the final stanza.

#84 Scott Moldenhauer – Didn’t particularly stand out, had one shot from the point in the first period that could have been more deadly with traffic in front but it went harmlessly wide.

#88 Chase Wouters – Was directly responsible for the break that lead to the Sharks game tying goal in the first as he tried to make too cute a play on the left side boards as he gained the zone. Needs to have better awareness there.

#68 – Roman Durny– Didn’t look great on a couple of the Sharks goals, including the first and the eventual OT winning one. But he also made some difficult stops against some of the more dangerous of the Sharks players; starting with a cross-ice feed that he slid across to shut down near six minute mark of the first. The Sharks second goal was a difficult save to make – he made the initial stop on the breakaway but was wildly out of position and dead in the water to get the follow up.

Three Stars:

#3: Kiefer Sherwood

#2: Max Jones

#1: Isaac Lundestrom