As they embark on this road trip, Frank Vatrano called it “tough” noting the opponents the Ducks will face; however, he said the mantra of club is to not get too far ahead of themselves.
“I think we just gotta take it one game at a time and play the hockey we know how to play,” Vatrano said.
Pittsburgh returns home for five games after spending its last three on the road and going 2-0-1. Most recently, the team suffered a 3-2 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
Sidney Crosby still leads the club with 30 points (18 goals, 12 assists). While Evgeni Malkin has 29 points and leads the team with 21 assists, it was announced today that he is now week-to-week with an upper body injury.
Despite the age on their roster, Quenneville said he and his team were taken aback by the skill they saw from the Penguins a couple months ago.
“When we saw [Pittsburgh] earlier in the year, kind of surprised us with how fast they are and where they’re at as well,” Quenneville said.
These two teams last met in October with the Ducks winning 4-3. In order to notch another victory, Vatrano discussed what the Ducks can do to get the best of the Penguins.
“I think we have to slow down their transition,” Vatrano mentioned. “Obviously, they have some players over there that can hurt you so I think for us, it’s be good defensively and try to slow down their transition as much as possible. Good defense leads to good offense.”