Usually losing three games in a row during the course of a shortened 48-game NHL season could mean the difference between making the playoffs or sitting home in April - this is not the case for the Anaheim Ducks.
Last nights 5-3 loss to the desperate San Jose Sharks was their third in a row; all at home. Anaheim had won 13 consecutive games at the Honda Center before the skid. Now, after three straight defeats to rival teams, is it time to panic for Anaheim's fowled faithful?
Nah, probably not.
For the first time this season the Ducks are playing some really bad hockey. But, as the old saying goes, "better now, than later."
When Anaheim lost consecutive home games to the Detroit Red Wings, they became the final NHL team to lose two regulation games in a row. That's really saying something. For one it says this team can brush off a loss and move on and for another it says that this team is going to be a tough out come playoff time.
Now, faced with their first real taste of adversity Ducks, led by head coach Bruce Boudreau, have to find a way to get themselves out of this funk - together, as a team. I often thought in the early going of the season the Ducks 'escaped' with two points, despite some mediocre hockey. In many ways all the winning masked several deficiencies on the blueline and in net.
Time to fix some of these shortcomings and get back to playing simple team hockey.
Anaheim hits the road to finish out the month of March. The Ducks are in San Jose on Wednesday, then onto Chicago to face the West's best before facing a suddenly resurgent Columbus team. They finish the trip in Dallas where they will start one of those wacky scheduling anomalies, in which they play the Stars three consecutive games to start the month of April.
I think a road trip right about now will help the team pull themselves back together. I love the quote Sheldon Souray gave after last nights defeat,
"We’ve got to just get a little bit of a sense of urgency back in our game," said Ducks defenseman Sheldon Souray. "We’re starting these games possibly thinking it’s going to be an easy night. We’ve got to understand that we’ve played well all year to put ourselves in the position that other teams are going to be ready for us.
He is spot on. The Ducks don't need to panic or get away from their game. From now on its going to be about effort and being mentally and physically ready to face their opponents best night in and night out.
With 16 games left on the schedule Anaheim is in a good playoff position. The second seeded Ducks are eight points ahead of the next closest team. The same can't be said for the rest of the Western Conference. There are five teams within four points of the eighth seed and another seven withing six points of the third spot. Basically everybody is in playoff mode.
I guess this is our first real opportunity to see if this Anaheim team is a real Cup contender or another regular season pretender. Game on.
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Just a few things to consider while the team is losing.
- Bryan Allen is a team worst minus-6
- Luca Sbisa in a minus-5 and was second of the team in minutes played; averaging around 18 minutes per game.
- Viktor has come crashing back to earth. He surrendered six goals in just over four periods of hockey.
- Does Bobby Ryan still play for the Ducks? The streak winger has just three points (1g 2a) in his last eight games. His current dry spell followed a seven game point streak from Feb. 27 to Mar. 10. Why can't he be that good all the time?
- Teemu Selanne is so revered that people have failed to notice that he has been a plus player in only three of his last 21 games and in 11 of those game he was a minus player. Sellane has just four goals over that same span. Remember when he led the Ducks in overall scoring? Me neither.
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