For the first time in the 2025-26 season, the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks dropped back-to-back games when they faced the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings this week on the road.
Until Tuesday, the Ducks were the NHL’s hottest team, winning their previous seven games and nine of ten. Leo Carlsson was the hottest player on the league’s hottest team through that stretch and dating back to just before the NHL’s “4 Nations” break in 2024-25.
Through the Ducks' first 17 games, Carlsson leads the team and is tied for third in the NHL’s scoring race with 26 points (11-15=26). He just saw his 11-game point streak snapped in the Ducks’ latest loss to the Red Wings on Thursday. During the 11-game streak, he tallied 20 points (9-11=20) and was the first NHL player 20 years old or younger to record a 10-game point streak in the last five NHL seasons. Before Tuesday, when the Ducks lost to the Colorado Avalanche, Carlsson and Paul Kariya (1994-95) were the only Ducks players 20 or younger to record multiple points in four consecutive games.
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Though Carlsson played well over the last two games, the Avs and Wings held one of the NHL’s brightest young stars to just a goal, the Ducks' lone goal against Colorado on Tuesday, in 42:44 TOI total. Did the Red Wings and Avalanche crack the code on how to shut down Carlsson (relatively), or did the bounces simply not go his way, keeping his presence on the scoresheet limited?
When healthy, Carlsson’s most consistent line has been centering Troy Terry and Chris Kreider. The trio has found a nice rapport, with Kreider’s small-area and net-front prowess opening up an abundance of open ice for Carlsson and Terry to operate in transition and on the cycle, two players who thrive with pucks on their sticks and at full speed. They’ve been one of the NHL’s best lines through the first part of the season, combining for 59 points between the three (26-33=59), ranking fifth in expected goals share (62.7%), fourth in xGF/60 (4.09), and 12th in xGA/60 (2.43) (min 100 minutes).
On the Ducks' recent two-game skid, Colorado head coach Jared Bednar and Detroit head coach Todd McLellan decided to hard-match strength vs strength at home with the last change, sending their top line and D pair over the boards to compete against the Ducks’ top line every chance they got at 5v5.
Every time Carlsson went over the boards at 5v5 on Tuesday against Colorado, Bednar put out his top line (Artturi Lehkonen-Nathan MacKinnon-Martin Necas) and his top defensive pair (Devon Toews-Cale Makar) in hopes of maintaining possession and keeping the puck off Carlsson’s stick. At 5v5, Carlsson’s line finished with 53.85% of the shot attempts share (14-12), 64.29% of the shots on goal share (9-5), and 63.72% of the xG share (1.2-.68).
The numbers suggest Colorado didn’t exactly shut down Carlsson and the Ducks’ top line, but visibly, they were hounding pucks and killing plays early to prevent cycle chances through the first two periods before locking down the middle of the defensive zone late to hold on to their decisive victory.
On Thursday against Detroit, McLellan took a page out of Bednar’s playbook and threw out his own top line (Lucas Raymond-Dylan Larkin-Alex DeBrincat) and D pair (Simon Edvinsson-Moritz Seider) against Carlsson every chance he got at 5v5. Carlsson’s line finished with 47.83% of the shot attempts share (11-12), 41.67% of the shots on goal share (5-7), and just 31.75% of the xG share (.33-.71).
Unlike Colorado, the numbers DO suggest Detroit shut down the Ducks’ top line. In a more low-event style, Detroit’s top line was able to do most of its damage on the rush and displayed a relentless forecheck to kill counters before they could build.
The Ducks will wrap up their three-game road trip with a Saturday afternoon matchup against the Minnesota Wild. Minnesota, unlike Colorado and Detroit, has deployed a lineup over their last ten games, where their top two offensive talents (Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy) have been playing on separate lines. They recently placed top center Marco Rossi on IR, who is set to be out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
The Wild currently sit in sixth in the Central Division with a 7-7-4 record, perhaps a disappointing start to the season for them. However, they’ve notched points in five of their last six games (4-1-1), and will be hoping to get their record over the .500 mark for the first time since the first game of the season. With Rossi out and the blueprint utilized by Colorado and Detroit, it will be interesting to see if Minnesota and head coach John Hynes reconnect Kaprizov and Boldy in an attempt to control puck possession time and match them up against the Ducks’ Kreider-Carlsson-Terry line.
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