The Anaheim Ducks are beginning a five-game road trip that will include some familiar stops for coach Joel Quenneville.
The first will be Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks, where Quenneville coached from 2008-19, winning three Stanley Cup titles along the way.
The final stop will be Oct. 28 in Sunrise, Fla., against the Florida Panthers, where Quenneville coached from 2019-21 before he resigned after being implicated in the Blackhawks sexual abuse scandal.
Quenneville coached several of the current Panthers who went on to win the past two Stanley Cup championships.
“We’re going to be busy,” said Quenneville, who was hired by the Ducks in May. “Whatever’s going to be coming, we’ve got to be welcoming it and ready for the next one, too. We’ve got some tough games on that trip, certainly.”
The Ducks are off to a 2-2-0 start under Quenneville, showing flashes of top-flight speed and skill at times while sometimes still floundering with youthful mistakes during trips up the ice.
“It’s a work in progress, but I still think I’m looking forward to getting to a standard of play and expecting us to play at that level, game in game out,” Quenneville said. “When we get there, I’ll let you know.”
The Saturday game will feature a matchup of the Nos. 1 and 2 overall picks in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Anaheim center Leo Carlsson, taken second overall, has done his part to showcase his talent over the past three games, logging six points. He scored an overtime winner against the San Jose Sharks last week, then produced the Ducks’ lone goal in a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
“He plays a lot of minutes, important minutes for us, so we need him to be a factor,” Quenneville said.
Chicago center Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in 2023, will be looking to bounce back after having three giveaways and serving four penalty minutes without notching a point in the Blackhawks’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
Bedard has six points (two goals, four assists) through six games this season.
“I can’t say enough good things about him as a person, his competitiveness, his want to be a great player,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “He wants to win more than anything else. He wants to win more than score points, he wants to win more than getting accolades. He just wants to win.”
The Blackhawks are riding a three-game point streak (2-0-1) despite the shootout defeat.
Chicago took a 2-0 lead in the first period against a Vancouver team that played the night before in a 5-3 road victory over the Dallas Stars, but the Blackhawks couldn’t pull away.
“They’re on the back half of a back-to-back, we go up 2-0, that’s when you just can’t give them life, and I thought we got passive in the second period, way too passive as the period went on,” Blashill said. “We should have been able to walk out of this game with two points.”
The Ducks have allowed the first goal in all four games this season, a trend they would like to end.
“I think we’re ready to start the games,” Quenneville said. “I think, maybe, we’re hesitant a little bit, but I think they’re all different kinds of goals that have gone in.”
