ANAHEIM, Calif. – That lightning hot offensive streak of a week ago papered over plenty of the Anaheim Ducks’ defensive cracks, which have suddenly morphed into canyons as the goals have dried up.
The New York Islanders scored four in the second period through a porous Ducks defense, and Simon Holmström finished off a hat trick past Lukáš Dostál, as Anaheim was cratered, 6-2, on Saturday at Honda Center.
Anaheim (10-9-1, 21 points) has scored just four goals in back-to-back losses after scoring 26 goals in a five-game winning streak and five or more goals in eight straight games.
"We just didn’t show up ready to play," Alex Killorn said. "They were a lot more prepared than us to play a game."
Nikita Nesterenko chased down a loose puck in front for the Ducks’ opening goal in the second period, 2-1, and Cutter Gauthier continued his historic goal-scoring streak later in the middle frame. Gauthier carved out space alone in front, and Tristan Luneau sent in the hard feed for the deflection, 5-2.
Gauthier tied 1998-99 Teemu Selanne for the second-longest goal-scoring streak in franchise history. Selanne also owns the longest streak in team history at 11 games (1997-98).
Ben Hutton was the beneficiary of a double deflection off Ducks sticks just under two minutes into the game, but the Islanders were off to the race in the second period, as wheels came off for Anaheim’s defense.
Bo Horvat netted a one-timer six seconds into the first power play of the game, 2-0. Simon Holmstrom scored his first of two 25 seconds after the Ducks’ first goal from Nesterenko, as he finished a two-on-one with Matthew Schaefer.
"You score, and then you give up a goal on the following shift," Joel Quennevilel said, "and that's happened a couple times recently, which is not good for trying to get some momentum going in the game. We gave them some too high quality opportunities that were basically golden A-plus chances, and we got outworked in some areas."
Holmstrom scored a second five minutes later, as Dostál was slid into by Leo Carlsson, and Mitchell Chaffee put in the Islanders’ fifth, as Schaefer flew the zone for another two-on-one.
Holmstrom finished off the hat trick with a one-on-one beat of Dostál’s glove in the third period, 6-2.
Lukáš Dostál stopped 19 of 25 shots in his first start in over a week, when he was pulled after the first period in Calgary last Friday.
"We gotta play harder for him, I think," Killorn said. "He’s facing two-on-ones and tipped shots that are going in. We have to be better in front of him. Not on Dosty, for sure."
Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves for the Islanders.
Ville Husso was the Ducks back-up, as Laurent Brossoit was reassigned back to AHL San Diego yesterday.
With the Ducks expecting the return of injured defenseman Ian Moore to their line-up, the Ducks needed to clear out a roster spot. Brossoit–who won his first four starts of the five he made with the Ducks during their red hot offensive streak–was the only goalie waiver exempt, and thus he was not at risk for a claim by another team when being sent to the minors.
Anaheim concludes its four-game homestand with the second half of a back-to-back against the Calgary Flames on Sunday before hitting the road for a four-game trip, which begins in St. Louis on Tuesday.
Defensive Disarray
With Anaheim's offense finally cooling down and it's league-best power play coming up empty for the second straight game–although on just one opportunity tonight–there was a heightened focus on the Ducks' defensive liabilities, and particularly in the fashion in which they occurred on Saturday.
Statistically, this game was not wildly titled in the Islanders favor. Shots on goal were 28-25, Ducks, and shot attempts were 60-46, Ducks. Analytically, the Islanders only generated 2.06 expected goals for per Natural Stat Trick and 2.28 xGF per MoneyPuck, and the Ducks earned 2.23 xGF and 2.46 xGF, respectively per both models.
Heck, high-danger chances were just 8-7 for the Islanders.
Fingers could point at the goalie, as Dostál did not have his best night in his return to the starter's net after Brossoits' run. Quenneville described his game as simply "okay," and that's because the Ducks coach's main concern was the repeated foibles of the five-man group in front of his goaltender.
"We got to make better plays in front of the net," Quenneville said. "We got to make sure that our reading the situations off the rush. We make mistakes on coverage. That can't happen. That's on me. And let's sort some things out."
When asked to elaborate on the lack of execution in their own end, Quenneville avoided a goal-by-goal breakdown and still put together a laundry list of mistakes, miscues and missed plays that "add up."
"You could talk about different situations," Quenneville said. "We're killing a penalty and the guy's, nobody near him in the slot one-timer. It's impossible. We fall and trip. These weren't really systematic things. These are kind of mistakes, not merely even mistakes, kind of, like flukiness. You’ve got Leo falling, hitting a goalie there when they score. I mean, you know, things like that aren't even systematic work. We gotta be better. I mean, it's like missing passes, missing pucks, and... puck comes to you off the face off, it goes through your stick. Just those things they add up."
Any positives going into tomorrow against Calgary?
"We got to respond to it. That's the best big part of it," Quenneville said.