ANAHEIM, Calif. – How is this happening for the Anaheim Ducks?
After leading the Pacific Division by five points just six games ago, a six-game winless streak has dropped Anaheim’s playoff hopes perilously close to the cut line with just four games to go, and Tuesday’s effort was the most flummoxing of them yet.
The Nashville Predators shut out the Ducks with a 43-save effort from Justus Annunen and goals in all three phases of the game in a 5-0 body blow at Honda Center.
Nashville leapfrogged back into the second wild card spot in the West over idle Los Angeles, and Anaheim fell to third place in the Pacific Division, just four points ahead of the Kings, who hold a game in hand.
“There's always pressure,” Alex Killorn said of the mounting playoff race,”especially when you get to the end of the season, when points are so important, when you can kind of see where you're gonna finish off. But we have to kind of embrace that.
“This team has been in a position where these games don't even matter. So I think we have to be confident and show that we're pretty happy to be in this position and make the most of the last four games.”
The Ducks (41-32-5, 87 points) have just one point in the last six games (0-6-1) and have been outscored 29-14 in that stretch to slip one point behind Edmonton (39-29-10, 88 points) and Vegas (36-26-16, 88 points), who are tied for the Pacific Division lead.
“We lost a couple at the beginning of (the skid) that were disappointing losses,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “The points were in our fingertips, and we let it get away. The last couple games, or parts in it, were exactly how he wanted to play, but we were seeing teams that have to win the game, right? We have to win games here. That's where we're at.”
The Ducks continue their final homestand of the regular season on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks, who beat the Ducks up north one week ago with the game-tying and go-ahead goals in the final 80 seconds.
San Jose is six points behind Anaheim, three points behind Nashville and two points behind Los Angeles with two games in hand on the Ducks and Predators and one on the Kings. The Sharks host Edmonton in the first half of a back-to-back tomorrow.
The Start They Wanted; The Result They Didn’t
Despite the goalless effort and eventual blowout, the Ducks started the game exactly how they set out to. Anaheim was controlling possession and paid attention to the defensive details.
The Ducks outshot Nashville, 12-5, in the scoreless opening period.
“Shot wise, I feel like we're doing a good job producing shot volume, but we haven't been able to score,” Killorn said. “We have to do a better job, and sometimes you go through these in a season where it's tough, and you don't like it to be the end of season, but there's still four games, so we have time to turn things around.”
Nashville scored seven minutes into the second period, where the defense almost did too good of a job getting all the way back on a rush and gave up space in the middle. Anaheim couldn’t get its game going as the Predators went on to score a power play goal and shorthanded goal in the middle frame.
“We started exactly doing what we wanted to do. We seemed to sag when they scored the first goal, and they got life,” Quenneville said. “We played the period we want, didn't get any action around the net with second opportunities, and their goalie played well, and maybe we would have got some excitement scoring one, but we didn't get there.”
“Then around the net, there was just one of those nights where the goalie–it was a goalie win for them, and was a big factor, but I still think there's enough ways that we're generating enough offense to win hockey games. It's basically, again, you know, we can't let them score at that rate.”
As it’s been in this losing skid, and particularly in the last two games, a solid team game was perforated by letting up Grade A chances on the rush and breakaway. Nashville’s third goal was a shorthanded breakaway, and the fourth goal came on a 4-on-2 rush, where a wide shot and offensive crease collision put the Ducks at odds.
“We got to stop giving them odd man rushes,” Killorn said. “We give them a shorthanded goal. Just like a lot of breakways and stuff like that.”
“Pinching when we don't need to. Sometimes you're in a spot where you just kind of have to start skating backwards and let them come, because F3 can help out as a forward, you can always help out and kind of decide where the puck's gonna go. But yeah, things just haven't been there.”
The last insult to Anaheim’s effort was another lackluster power play night. The Ducks went 0-for-6 on Tuesday and are 2-for-32 in their last eight games.
“Tonight was a night that after, we'll talk and sort it out, but that was not good enough,” Quenneville said. “They’ve got a good penalty kill. They're very aggressive, and we didn't get any offense, and our team game didn't pick up any momentum off it as well. So it kind of stymied us in that area.”
How to Move Forward, Stop the Bleeding
Despite the gravity of the situation–the skid, the playoff race, the nature of the loss–there was a positive front coming from the Anaheim locker room after the game.
“It happens throughout the season,” Killorn said of the losing streak. “You don't want it to happen at the end, but there's still a lot of time left. We had a nine-gamer (losing skid in January), and then we went on a pretty good little streak there, so hopefully we could kind of turn things around like we did then.”
To break out of that nine-game losing streak in January, the Ducks–who carried injuries to Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry then as they carry injuries to Cutter Gauthier and Radko Gudas now–had to adjust their game to break out. Anaheim backed off its high-octane nature and got gritty with a forecheck and defensive-oriented game.
“Hw we came out of that one was basically, hey, playing ugly, winning ugly,” Quenneville said. “Basically simplifying where you don't have to think you got to score a goal every game, every shift. I think we got a little loose in that second period, but at the same time, we played the first period, exactly what we wanted.”
“There's still lots of hockey left, and we've proven that all year that we still got something to get back into the game, and we've found a way to win a lot of games in a comparable fashion had we had scored earlier than these power plays where nothing to do with thinking we’re coming back.”
However, this late in the season, is that kind of game attainable with just four games to play? Can the Ducks alter their mentality and lock down again from the loose and up-tempo nature in which they thrive to that more ugly game with their most important games ahead of them?
“You're winning a shift, you're winning a period,” Quenneville said. “We don't have to fine tune it more than the next opponent, the next game, and the next shift in period. Find a way to stop the bleeding, and win a period or win a shift, and get some momentum off of little wins.”
Injury Report: Ducks targeting end of homestand for Gauthier
Ducks leading goal scorer Cutter Gauthier (upper-body) and captain Radko Gudas (lower-body) both remained out of the Ducks line-up on Tuesday night after missing the last three games.
Gauthier participated in a light skate again on Tuesday and is making progress, according to Quenneville. He is still officially day-to-day.
“We'll probably see him next week,” Quenneville said. “We're shooting for before the end of the homestand.”
Anaheim has two more games at Honda Center on Thursday against San Jose and Sunday against Vancouver.
Gudas is also listed as day-to-day and is reportedly making progress. Quenneville was a bit more vague on the captain, but indicated he could be good to go once he gets back to practice.
“I'm not going to have a date right now on him,” Quenneville said, “but he's closer than he was, obviously, before, but certainly, he gets in a practice or two with the guys, and he could be playing right after that.”
Ross Johnston (lower-body) is into the third week of a three-to-four week recovery timeline and that timeline remains the same, according to the Ducks coach.
“He's doing really well,” Quenneville said. “I think he's progressing. Maybe he's excited about the way he's rehabbing, and all of a sudden, we get him on the ice here soon, and he can do his thing. Tough to say, but we'll keep with that forecast.”
After successful hand surgery on Monday, Jansen Harkins is out for four weeks.
Playoff Magic Numbers
At (41-32-5) 87 points, the Ducks’ magic number (combined number of points won by Anaheim and lost by the first team out of a playoff spot) to clinch its first playoff berth since 2018 is six.
Nashville (37-31-10, 84 points) leapfrogged over Los Angeles (32-26-19, 83 points) after losing to the Kings overtime on Monday to jump back into the final wild card spot in the West. San Jose (37-32-7, 81 points) hosts Edmonton tomorrow before going to Anaheim on Thursday.
If the Kings or Sharks won their remaining slate, they would reach 93 points. Nashville can reach 92 points by winning out. San Jose and Nashville currently have the regulation wins tiebreaker on Anaheim, but Los Angeles does not.
Anaheim’s magic number to clinch the Pacific Division title is 10, with Edmonton and Vegas capable of hitting 97 points and both holding the regulation wins tiebreaker over the Ducks.