“They skate hard, know where they are on the ice, chase pucks and get them back,” Cronin said. “They trust each other over there.”
Between the pipes, despite the loss to Los Angeles, was another solid performance by 24-year-old Lukas Dostal, whose .930 save percentage ranks seventh among NHL goaltenders with at least four starts.
“He was a big part of our success,” Gudas said. “Every chance he gets in the net, he gives us a chance to win those games, so we’re really happy to have him back there. I’d like our team to give him a little more room to breathe and not create so many goals.” “Tough games for him early to start.”
The Ducks also welcomed veteran goaltender John Gibson back to practice Monday at Honda Center. Gibson has been sidelined since late September following an emergency appendectomy.
Meanwhile across the hall tonight, San Jose is still searching for its first win of the new season, now 0-4-2 after a 4-1 loss to Colorado on Sunday.
“We’ve got to find a way to win a hockey game,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsowski told Max Miller of NHL.com. “We’ve done some really good things in probably four of our six games. And you could say our record is different. It could be different, but in… At the end of the day, the record is what it says, right? I know our guys dig it, and we care.”
One of those six Sharks losses came at the hands of the Ducks in Anaheim’s season opener at SAP Center. That game also went into the third period scoreless before Isak Lundstrom scored quickly, providing all the offense Dostal would require on 30 saves.
