(Darnell Nurse of the Edmonton Oilers dumps Adam Henrique of the Anaheim Ducks flat onto the ice on Sunday night at Honda Center. Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images.)
That stench emanating from Orange County comes from the Anaheim Ducks stinking up the ice. That team absolutely smells right now. They are awful. Terrible. Sunday night, the hapless Ducks extended their winless streak to eight games after dropping another ugly loss, this time in a 4-0 shutout to the Edmonton Oilers in front of 17,317 mostly frustrated fans at Honda Center.
The ice cold Ducks dropped to 0-6-2 since they last won, Dec. 17, in Pittsburgh. That was more than a week before Christmas. We have already moved since then a week into the new year. Gah! The Ducks are hemorrhaging losses, and desperately need a win against anybody to stop the bleeding.
That anybody might arrive Wednesday in the form of the Ottawa Senators, who hold this season’s worst NHL record. The Senators are the Ducks’ next opponent, and if Anaheim cannot beat Ottawa, the question will become who exactly *can* the Ducks beat?
As a result of the streak, the Ducks crashed in the standings. Anaheim now battles against the Oilers and the Minnesota Wild for the final wild card spot. The Ducks lead by two points over both of those teams, but each of those competitors has played less games than has Anaheim. Plus, both possess the tiebreaker against the Ducks. If Anaheim were to have finished its season today, Edmonton would still need to play a game, while Minnesota would need to play three. Three!
If either the Oilers or Wild picked up two points with their extra games, that team would leap frog over the Ducks. So, in all likelihood at least one of those two would pass Anaheim. Thus, the Ducks for all practical purposes sit outside of a playoff seed. In fact, the Wild already own a better record than do the Ducks, as Minnesota boasts a higher winning percentage, .538 to .523. Here are the latest Western Conference standings:
As we see, Anaheim holds the ninth-best record in the conference. I circled number of games played, standings points earned, and number of ROWs (the first tiebreaker). Any questions?
Just as a reminder, before the season started, Rabbi Rabbs predicted that the Ducks would fail to reach the playoffs. I stand by that prediction. Call me a pessimist. I do not care. Not everyone agrees with me. For instance, the Ducks’ Josh Manson. After the game, Anaheim’s star defensemen seemed far more optimistic.
“I think in a few of these games we have been playing well, and we have been generating chances,” Manson said. “We’re just not finding our side on the winning end of it when we come out of it. It is frustrating. I’m not going to lie. We need to pull together as a group, and find ways to win.”
Sunday’s contest marked the return of Cam Fowler who had missed the past two months after sustaining a facial fracture. Rickard Rakell, Patrick Eaves, Corey Perry, and Ryan Miller remain inactive.
With Fowler’s insertion into the lineup, the Ducks scratched rookie defenseman Jacob Larsson in favor of a third pair consisting of rookies Josh Mahura and Andy Welinski. The Oilers exposed that rookie combo early in the game for Edmonton’s first goal. I shall explain.
After about seven minutes into the scoreless game, Anaheim had its fourth line on the ice with Mahura and Welinski on the blue line. No problem, because the Ducks matched those five against the Oilers’ counterparts. Unfortunately, the Ducks’ five iced the puck. Edmonton took advantage of the opportunity by sending out its top guns for the faceoff. Sure enough, the Oilers won the draw, and the next thing we see is Connor McDavid standing all alone at the side of Anaheim’s crease, banging away at a loose puck, as Mahura and Welinski were nowhere to be found. And wham! McDavid hacked his way to a goal by flinging the puck off of goalie John Gibson.
None of that should have ever happened. New rule: when the third pair defensemen are playing, no one may ice a puck at any time. Getting the third pair caught on the ice for the ensuing faceoff must be treated as serious as taking a penalty.
About nine minutes later, Edmonton struck again to take a 2-0 lead. That time Fowler and Manson were the guilty defensive pair. Jesse Puljujärvi netted that goal. Then, with only 11 seconds remaining in the first period, it happened. Again. Anaheim gave up its seventh short-handed goal of the season. Unbelievable. This time Kyle Brodziak had the honors. Fowler was on the ice for that one, too, and finished the night with a minus-2. Not exactly the return for which Fowler had hoped.
The Oilers added one more goal in the second period when Leon Draisaitl put the game out of reach.
Here is hoping my predictions are wrong, and that the Ducks stop their bleeding Wednesday night. Until then, Let’s Go Ducks !!
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