Anaheim Ducks Pregame Sees New Lines

The Anaheim Ducks haven’t really touched their top six on offense since Patrick Maroon found a rhythm on the first line with captain Ryan Getzlaf and winger Corey Perry — but their bottom six is getting a shake-up before a crucial game seven.

Per LA Times reporter Lance Pugmire, the club saw nearly every skater outside of Ryan Getzlaf show up for an optional skate this morning. This is how the offense looked:

Patrick Maroon – (played without a centre) – Corey Perry

Matt Beleskey – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg

Jiri Sekac – Nate Thompson – Andrew Cogliano

Kyle Palmieri – Rickard Rakell – Tomas Fleischmann

Jiri Sekac‘s promotion to the third line is a positive development for the young forward, who was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks for Devante Smith-Pelly in a direct player swap with the Montreal Canadiens. The Czech forward had struggled to find offensive consistency in Montreal — and he’s still having trouble scoring in the post-season — but seems to have finally found his on-ice confidence in Anaheim.

Swapping with Sekac onto the fourth line, of course, was Kyle Palmieri — who had a good game one in the series but hasn’t been overly impressive since.

Rickard Rakell, who has anchored the fourth line for a chunk of the post-season, will remain there it seems — but in one more swap from game six to game seven, it seems that Emerson Etem is the odd man out and Tomas Fleischmann, who was a scratch on Wednesday, is back in.

While Etem has played well, the swap of him and Fleischmann for game seven is hardly a shock. The thirty-one year old veteran, dealt to the Ducks at the trade deadline by the Florida Panthers, isn’t necessarily the stronger talent than Etem in the bottom six. With a massive amount of veteran depth in the Blackhawks’ offensive lineup, though, putting in a skater with comparable production — but years of NHL experience — may be more important to head coach Bruce Boudreau in a pivotal game.

The Ducks will face off against the Chicago Blackhawks for a Sunday early evening game at 5 P.M. Pacific Standard Time.