The Anaheim Ducks were kicked around by the Dallas Stars in their own building during Wednesday nights 6-2 loss at the Honda Center. The Ducks played perhaps one of their worst games in more than a month, but all is not lost.
Jonas Hiller allowed five goals in taking the loss. Hiller had not surrendered more than two goals in his previous nine starts.
Anaheim had its season-high six game home winning streak snapped and failed to earn a point for only the third time in 2012. After collecting a record breaking 19 points in the month of January, it's hard to hang your head even after the embarrassing defeat.
The Ducks players know they can't win every game. But they've lost two of the last three with both losses coming at the hands of the Stars. If there is a silver lining, it's that they don't play Dallas again until mid-March.
Anaheim can't afford any loss, let alone losing games to teams above them in the Western Conference standings. The Ducks remain 10 points behind the idle Minnesota Wild for the eighth seed and falling any further back would only diminish their already slim playoff chances.
Looking ahead to February...
* The Ducks players are wearing "I Believe" shirts.
* Anaheim plays nine of their 15 games against teams from the Eastern Conference. That's potentially 18 huge points.
* Anaheim went 5-5-1 last February. A repeat of that would all but doom any faint playoff dreams.
* The Ducks face the Wild on St. Valentine's Day in Minnesota. If Anaheim manage's to close the gap by then, I can guarantee there will be no love lost between the two clubs during that game.
* Corey Perry is only three goals off his 50 goal pace from last season. By the end of Feb. 2011 the reigning NHL MVP had 31 goals. He'll need nine this year to equal his total from a a year ago.
* Teemu Selanne's assist on Wednesday night moved him into a tie with Bernie Nicholls for 43rd on the all-time assists list with 734. One more assist and he'll leave the former Los Angeles King in his dust.
* February 27th is the NHL Trade deadline. As long as the Ducks remain within striking distance of the playoffs, don't expect a major move. But if they lose two or three games in a row then lookout...GM Bob Murray may take the gloves off.
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