Preview: Ducks Close 2024 Preseason Tonight in San Jose

Preview: Ducks Close 2024 Preseason Tonight in San Jose

The Ducks will reach the end of the 2024 preseason on the road in San Jose, facing off with the Sharks on tonight at SAP Center.

PUCK DROP: 7 P.M. | WATCH: ANAHEIMDUCKS.COM | AUDIO: DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER

A live stream of tonight’s game will be available exclusively on AnaheimDucks.com and the Ducks screen of the NHL/Ducks app shortly prior to puck drop. Tonight’s game cannot be viewed on Victory+. For more information on where to watch the Ducks this season, click here.

Anaheim meets San Jose tonight for the third time in six preseason games, thus far split evenly with a pair of road victories. The Ducks sit at 2-2-1 in the exhibition season, heading to tonight’s finale, looking to build on a strong 5-2 win over Utah on Wednesday.

“It’s kind of coming together,” winger Alex Killorn said. “We had it closer to what’s probably going to be our lineup. It was a pretty good game. There were moments in the second period where they took it to us but we did produce when we had to in big times.”

Highlights from Anaheim’s 5-2 preseason win over Utah at Honda Center

Killorn’s line, with youngsters Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier, all found the back of the net in Wednesday’s win, as the Ducks continue to emphasize getting more pucks on net in the preseason.

“That’s been a huge point of emphasis for our team,” Killorn said. “Many of the better teams in this league outshoot teams. It’s a pretty simple formula: the more you shoot, the more chances you’re going to get. We’re going to try to shoot more this year. I think if we also get more possession time, that’ll help us shoot more.”

Beyond the top line, eleven total Ducks found the scoresheet two nights ago, including rookie Nathan Gaucher, who stood out to head coach Greg Cronin in his return from a lower-body injury.

“I was really impressed with Nathan,” Cronin said of the centerman. “He hasn’t skated in a long time. He worked his rear end off this summer and put really functional weight on. He needed to work on his flexibility. That was a part of his program to get him to improve his skating and lengthen his stride to make him a little bit more dynamic skating. He did a great job.”

On the other side, San Jose begins a preseason back-to-back tonight, heading to Vegas tomorrow for its exhibition finale. The biggest news of Sharks camp though was a scary collision with the boards for first overall pick Macklin Celebrini, who left Tuesday’s game against Utah and did not return, but Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky told media Wednesday the injury is fortunately minor and Celebrini is considered day-to-day. Celebrini collected a goal and and assist in his preseason debut.