Though only 22 games into his rookie season, Anaheim Ducks coach Joel Quenneville has already observed significant growth in the game of forward Beckett Sennecke.
Sennecke and the Ducks continue a six-game, 12-day homestand Wednesday when they host the Vancouver Canucks and look to improve on an 8-2-0 home record.
The 19-year-old has seven goals and nine assists and trails only Montreal’s Ivan Demidov in rookie scoring entering Wednesday’s action.
“Beckett is a pretty amazing player,” Quenneville told TSN 1050 in Toronto. “He does have great patience, and he does have good play recognition. I think he’s growing leaps and bounds here since he’s started the year knowing that there’s a certain way we play without the puck, but have that freedom with it, and I think he’s got a lot of freedom the way he plays.”
Anaheim erased 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to top the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night. Jackson LaCombe, Troy Terry and Cutter Gauthier each had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who have won three of four.
Sennecke added a helper to extend his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists).
Lukas Dostal, Wednesday’s likely starter, made 29 saves to improve to 11-5-1 in 17 games.
Wednesday is the first of four meetings between the Canucks and the Ducks.
Vancouver took three of four games last season, but travels to Anaheim with just one win in its past seven (1-4-2).
“Twenty-three games in, you look at the standings, it’s not even close to where we want to be, so every game means a lot more to us, as it should, especially against divisional teams,” forward Jake DeBrusk said.
The Canucks open a four-game road trip following a 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
Filip Hronek and Quinn Hughes scored for the Canucks, who have dropped three straight.
Vancouver, which is 6-5-1 on the road this season, will also visit San Jose, Los Angeles and Colorado on the seven-day road trip.
“Every game is important, obviously, going into this road swing, playing against good teams — teams that are above us (in the standings),” DeBrusk said. “It’d be nice to get on a little bit of a roll. It’d be nice to put a good game together and play a full 60.
“We got to focus on how do we get better, especially from our goal out, and the rest will take care of itself.”
The Canucks announced Tuesday that goaltender Kevin Lankinen did not travel with the team to Anaheim due to personal reasons and that Jiri Patera has been recalled from the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks.
Goalie Thatcher Demko (lower-body injury) is with the Canucks and could be an option later in the road trip, according to head coach Adam Foote.
