Troy Terry leads Ducks into busy weekend back east
The Ducks’ campaign has had a hurry-up-and-wait feel thus far.
They were the last team to start the regular season, but did so with back-to-back games. Now, after three full days off since their last match, a 3-1 win over San Jose, they’ll launch into another back-to-back set that’s part of a sprint through the New York metro area that’ll entail three games in four nights. The trip will conclude with a fourth game in six calendar days when the Ducks visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Halloween.
“This New York trip is a long one, it’s kind of the first trip where we’ll be away from our families for a while,” Ducks winger Troy Terry said. “(The win over San Jose) was kind of the way we wanted to play, and we all needed that going into the trip.”
Terry stumbled out of the gate last season under first-year Ducks coach Greg Cronin, who implemented a new system and also challenged Terry to make his offensive game more economical and versatile.
After some early success headlined by a hat trick, Terry endured a stretch of 18 games wherein the Ducks won just three times and he had a pedestrian six points. That gave way to a blistering stretch, beginning toward the end of a similar New York swing, in which he stacked up 29 points in 24 games, including 10 victories.
This season, one thing the Ducks haven’t had to wait on has been his prolific attacking. He has fired out of the starting blocks, compiling a five-game points streak and scoring four goals.
“I feel confident. I had a good summer. I feel strong. It just helps when you get one early. It wasn’t going in at the start of last year,” Terry said. “I was trying to push too much and I was riding that emotional rollercoaster a bit too much last year.”
Terry said he simplified his thought process and daily routine, spending significant time away from the rink with his 18-month-old son Greyson. Cronin, who called Terry the Ducks’ “best player” so far this season, said Terry changed his approach on the ice as well.
“The biggest adjustment he’s made is that he’s putting the puck deep. He’s not slowing down at the offensive blue line, he’s actually speeding up. He’s driving the puck deeper and then he’s making plays at the top of the circles, not in the neutral zone right outside the blue line,” Cronin said.
Terry spearheaded the Ducks’ victory over the Sharks, taking it upon himself to squeeze a perfectly placed shot through three defenders on a goal that broke the Ducks’ season-long slump on the power play and later to initiate a man-advantage scoring sequence that proved the first power-play goal wasn’t a fluke.
“We talked a number of times this summer about trying to rebrand his game so he’s more of a threat to the outside,” Cronin continued. “He’s always cut into the middle, but he does it now in a really efficient way, he’s not trying to squeeze into too much traffic, he’s doing it when the lanes are there. He’s using that talent wisely, and he’s just skating, he looks like he’s faster this year.”
Terry had six points in six games against the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders last year. The Ducks will start the trip against the Rangers and then face the Devils. The two teams are tied atop the Metro Division though the Rangers have played seven games (5-1-1) while the Devils (5-4-1), losers of three straight, have played 10.
Artemi Panarin’s 14 points lead not only the Rangers but the entire Eastern Conference and place “The Bread Man” just one point behind Colorado defenseman Cale Makar in the Art Ross Trophy race.
New Jersey has been buoyed by the efforts of Nico Hischier and fellow Swiss national Timo Meier, both of whom have 10 points in 10 games.
Ducks at New York Rangers
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York
How to watch: Victory+, KCOP (Ch/ 13)
Ducks at New Jersey
When: 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.
How to watch: Victory+, KCOP (Ch/ 13)