Ducks enjoying Carlsson, Zegras and Killorn at full health – Orange County Register

It will be fan appreciation night Friday for the final home game of the Ducks’ 30th anniversary season, as they take on the Calgary Flames.

Lately, there has been a theme of player appreciation, as the Ducks build solidarity after a season that featured just five winning streaks and only one longer than two games. They could get their sixth, as they are coming off a 3-1 victory against the same Kings that the mid-major Flames faced only a night earlier.

Although the Ducks remained without key figures like Mason McTavish and Pavel Mintyukov, they saw three main forwards who suffered multiple injuries this season return to health and, with it, their progress: Leo Carlsson, Trevor Zegras and Alex Killorn.

Carlsson has three goals and four points in his last four games. The No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft missed games with three different injuries and narrowly avoided a fourth following a knee-on-knee collision last month. Ducks coach Greg Cronin was full of praise for the young center, while he and Carlsson were enthusiastic about Zegras’ resurgent game. The fourth-year center, who missed extended stretches with a groin injury and broken ankle, has five points in his last five outings, each stronger than the last.

“Amazing hands. He pulls the D on him and creates space for the other guys,” Carlsson said, sending applause from one playmaker to the other.

Zegras, the team’s leading scorer last year, was challenged by Cronin and his team to become a more complete player and, despite missing 51 games this season, he showed flashes of doing just that.

“He can play at a higher level than most guys offensively, and when he competes away from the puck, he just takes his game to a higher level, and I think that’s inspiring for his teammates to see,” Cronin said. “When he naturally does things well offensively, I think that gives guys confidence, and then when he puts the same investment in defensively, he becomes a role model.”

Zegras turned 23 last month and Carlsson celebrated his 19th birthday in December, but veteran Alex Killorn, 34, has been bitten by the injury bug this season after a remarkably durable tenure with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s only missed four games in eight seasons, but he’s missed 19 times this year alone due to a broken finger and knee arthroscopic surgery.

Killorn, who won two Stanley Cups in Tampa and appeared in two other Finals series, collected the 500th career point in Sunday’s overtime loss to St. Louis.

“That means he’s old, right?” Carlsson joked. “It’s amazing to play with him for the first time, but he’s a great guy, so he deserves it for sure.”

Killorn has scored 10 of his 18 goals as a Duck since Feb. 29 and 11 since recovering from knee surgery 12 days earlier. Killorn said joining a new team with a four-year contract worth $25 million with a first-year head coach, a new system and a whole new way of doing things were all challenges even before that his finger and knee problems limit his ability to compete. and the state. He said he now feels better and is reaching the level he has become accustomed to playing at.

“He’s doing much better. He has more jump, he is more physical and he protects pucks better. He’s more of a leader, he’s more vocal,” Cronin said. “He and Leo have some chemistry, I think Leo admires him and why not? He has two Stanley Cups and he reinforces what the right play is at the right time in a game.