ANAHEIM, Calif. – Stanley Cup Playoff series are often described as chess matches, with each side making moves the other must respond to.
Unlike the Anaheim Ducks’ 6-game run through the Edmonton Oilers in the first round, this second-round tussle with the Vegas Golden Knights had been much more akin to that strategic back and forth entering Game 4.
For the Ducks on Sunday, Anaheim made its most sweeping moves yet, with three players making notable returns to the line-up–Mason McTavish, Ian Moore and Olen Zellweger–and each paid their share of dividends, as the Ducks bounced back to take Game 4, 4-3, and even the series up, 2-2, heading back to the desert.
Anaheim plays the pivotal Game 5 in Vegas on Tuesday.
McTavish was already one of the more startling chess moves of the series, as the $7-million-per-season man was a healthy scratch in Games 2 and 3. Moore was also a healthy scratch in both games, as Jansen Harkins and Ross Johnston came in for physicality in the bottom-six forwards.
McTavish had notably been an attention-grabbing healthy scratch in a tough run late in the regular season, but a healthy scratch in the playoffs is a different animal for a supposed cornerstone player that just wrapped the first season of a six-year deal.
“It's never easy. Never an easy decision,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said after Game 2, “but I think it's not punishment. I'd say, hey, we want to have more troops in the series. We think we're going to need everybody. That was basically the reason why we brought both of them in.”
Quenneville said there wasn’t anything missing from McTavish’s game and that he expected him to return in the series.
Harkins and Johnston filled their roles as needed in a big Game 2 victory, but as the Ducks’ struggled with some jump in a Game 3 loss and the power play continued to flounder, another responsive move was needed.
McTavish said he was surprised by the scratch, as he thought he had played “decent,” and Quenneville said he liked his power play contributions. However, McTavish was more than ready to go for Game 4.
While not registering on the scoresheet and skating the least minutes of any forward (11:25), McTavish was on the ice for three goals, including two on the power play, and his line with Ryan Poehling and Cutter Gauthier earned a staggering 90.91% of on-ice shot attempts and a whopping 94.18% share of the expected goals while on ice, per Natural Stat Trick.
“He’s been awesome throughout these whole playoffs,” Gauthier said. “He's been just a player who just keeps his head down and just works really hard and definitely the heartbeat of our line with me and Poehls. Tonight, I thought he'd played a great game, getting on the inside, getting in front of the goalie's eyes, making life difficult for their defenseman and ultimately led in for a handful of opportunities that we had tonight.”
“It definitely doesn't go unnoticed.”
While the ice time may not show it due to a series of line-matching–McTavish, Poehling and Gauthier, who collected three assists, were the three lowest ice times among Ducks forwards–it wasn’t unnoticed by Quenneville either, who was impressed by McTavish’s determination.
“I thought he had a heck of a game.” Quenneville said. “I really liked his attitude coming into the game. Not easy for him to be not in lineup, and then play the way he did shows his character, and he wanted to be a big part of it, and he was, in a lot of ways, not just power play, but I thought he played a real solid game.”
McTavish’s return to the line-up was fairly straightforward. He was probably always going to come back into the series, particularly with his pedigree. Moore and Zellweger were a line-up curveball no one saw coming.
In Sunday’s morning skate, Drew Helleson was out with an injury, and Ducks captain Radko Gudas stepped up into that spot alongside rookie Tyson Hinds, who had played every playoff game so far. Gudas was close to returning from a lower-body injury and labelled himself a game-time decision for Game 4.
Most thought that was simple gamesmanship, as Gudas even talked to the media at the morning skate, but neither Gudas or Hinds were in the line-up on Sunday.
Zellweger played in his first game of the playoffs after being a healthy scratch over the previous 13 games following 76 games played in the 82-game regular season. His last game was April 7.
Despite being a defenseman by trade, Moore played most of the season at forward, including his seven playoff games. Sunday was Moore’s first game back on the blue line since April 1.
“I thought they both did a very good job,” Quenneville said. “Their minutes might not have been high, but at the same time, their quality of shifts was important. They give us steady (defense). they give us some offense, they give us some a little bit of everything, and that reliability, their experience over the course of the season, give us two more guys came in the lineup–in different positions for Mooresy, but Zelly getting in for the first time–gives us more guys involved in this playoffs, and that was one of the reasons, as well.”
Moore played a game-low 8:27, but the Harvard grad made the most of his time with a third-period blast for a two-goal lead, which ended up as the game-winning goal.
“Not too difficult,” Moore said of sitting out. “Staff and the guys do such a good job of explaining the system and helping me out if I’ve got questions or what not. You watch the game a lot, and just kind of lean on your teammates and try and use your skills to your advantage no matter where you’re playing.”
Zellweger was also low on ice time (11:52, second lowest among Ducks blue-liners), but earned an assist on Moore’s strike and key penalty killing time in the third period.
“It’s obviously tough,” Zellweger said of his sit-out period. “Team obviously did a great job there in the first series. Hell of an effort there. They’ve done a great job so far here, and it was a big game tonight.”
While none of the three moved-in players earned a ton of ice time, their impact in those minutes showcases an important piece of a long playoff run–depth.
Alex Killorn has won two Stanley Cups and and been to three Finals. He has seen plenty of depth players make their mark on a series.
“I look at Zelly tonight and, like, really impressed with his game,” Killorn said. “The way he's able to get up ice and the way he's able to skate, makes it difficult on their team, especially when they have to backcheck him for the majority of the game. He never runs out of energy. It's great.”
“Even Mooresy has a great goal. Like he hasn't played defense in a long time and he comes in and has a great game, but that's the kind of mentality you have to have in playoffs. It's next man up. There's gonna be injuries that happen, and I think these guys have done a great job putting
themselves in spots where they're ready to come in. And not just play, but have an impact on the game.”
With three Stanley Cups as a head coach and another as an assistant, Quenneville has been more than acquainted with the ups and downs of a long playoff season. He spoke from plenty of experience when he mentioned needing “more troops” after Game 2.
“I think it's important that the guys that don't play, their attitude around the team is very important to the success and the longevity of playing playoff hockey,” Quenneville said. “Everybody wants to play, everybody wants to play more, and then you get a little bit deeper, and it can become a disturbance, but I think this group has been really diligent all year long.”
“(Assistant coach Tim Army) does a good job when the guys skating and keeping them fresh and keeping them more than ready, and the guys have been accepting that, and it's part of being a great teammate, and I think you need everybody to contribute in that way.”
There will be more chess moves in this series, and if the Ducks find a way to rally and move on, there will be plenty more after that.
Whoever that is, they’ll have to be ready, as any little move can have a big impact in the playoffs.