The Ducks came home to Honda Center on October 14 for a Ducks game that carried more than the usual weight. Anaheim was back from a two-game stint against Calgary after beating the Flames 4-2 on Saturday, and Roger McQueen was expected to make his NHL debut in front of a crowd that received a free Wild Wing mask from UCI Health.
The timing made the night matter. Anaheim entered at 4-1-0, had won three in a row, and had just completed a sweep of its two-game Canadian road trip, a start that included the first three consecutive road wins in franchise history. Calgary arrived at 0-5-0, still looking for its first win and first point after losing to the Ducks over the weekend, and puck drop was set for 6:45 p.m. PT with the game on Prime Video and FOXLA+.
McQueen said he had waited for the moment “for a while” and wanted to enjoy it while still playing his game, a feeling that fit the night perfectly. Anaheim recalled the 2025 first-round pick from San Diego after Ryan Poehling was placed on Injured Reserve in the morning and Cutter Gauthier was ruled out day to day with an upper-body injury, leaving the Ducks to adjust their forward group again as the season found its early shape.
There was a catch to the clean storyline. McQueen’s debut was the headline, but the Ducks were also trying to keep the pace they had built on the road, and that meant carrying over the edge that got them through a tight game on Saturday while dealing with two lineup losses at the same time. Drew Helleson was also making his season debut after a lower-body injury in the team’s first preseason game, so Anaheim was not simply adding a prospect; it was patching together a roster that had already been tested in the first week.
Joel Quenneville said Lukas Dostal would start in net for Anaheim, giving the Ducks a familiar anchor as they tried to extend a fast start that has already rewritten a small piece of franchise history. For McQueen, the night was simpler. He gets one first game, and Anaheim gets to find out how much of its early momentum can survive when the spotlight shifts from the road to Honda Center.
