The Anaheim Ducks and Seattle Kraken began their back-to-back matchups last night at Climate Pledge Arena. Problem is, only one team showed up, and it was the Kraken, who dominated every facet of the game and cruised to a 4-0 victory.
Related: Previewing Ducks’ Back-to-Back Set with Faltering Kraken
It was just about the worst possible start to a five-game, nine-day road trip. The only thing that’s consistent about the Ducks’ game this season is that it’s wildly inconsistent. While this won’t be an enjoyable exercise, let’s look at what we learned and all the unflattering numbers from last night’s loss.
Lesson One: There Is No Urgency Anywhere
The Ducks weren’t ready to play last night, and it was that simple. There’s little use in getting into the specifics, but the Kraken were all over them right from the opening faceoff. The Ducks were smothered whenever they had the puck (which wasn’t often), couldn’t take the puck away in the defensive zone or limit shots, and skated with no urgency whatsoever. There was no energy on the ice or on the bench. No fire from individual players. John Gibson looked defeated and frustrated. This was a down-and-beaten team that resembled virtually nothing of the team that just played 120 minutes of decent hockey in the last few days against the Tampa Bay Lightning (March 24) and Chicago Blackhawks (March 21).
I discussed in the preview that the Kraken are a savvy, veteran-filled team on both sides of the puck, especially on the defensive end. They didn’t have a single defenseman under 6-foot-2 in the lineup last night, which clearly made life difficult for the Anaheim forwards. There was zero offense; none, whatsoever.
In the third period, with the game already out of hand, the offense opened up ever so slightly in moments for the Ducks. Two opportunities come to mind. Troy Terry narrowly missed the net on a nifty move to the backhand around Kraken players that actually went through the crease and out the other side. A tough break and poor puck luck, not much to do about that one.
Their second-best opportunity came off a great passing play between Frank Vatrano, Trevor Zegras, and Mason McTavish. This trio was put together in a desperate attempt to create something. On this particular play, Vatrano found Zegras on the goal line, who corralled a loose puck beside Joey Daccord and stepped around him to find McTavish on the backdoor, who was stopped by a brilliant foot save by Will Borgen. Don’t get me wrong, it was a stellar defensive play by Borgen, but McTavish needs to hammer that puck as if he’s trying to shoot it through the net. Instead, he merely tapped it, creating an opportunity for it to be blocked. A minor example of the lack of urgency, but an example nonetheless. It wouldn’t have made a material difference in the game if he scored, but that needed to be a goal. There needed to be something the Ducks could use as momentum going into the rematch.
Lesson Two: Zegras’ Return for Final 10 Games is Huge
For the second time this season, Zegras returned from injury in a game against the Kraken. In both return games, he was the Ducks’ best player. There was no Michigan goal this time, but he facilitated the aforementioned scoring chance in the third period with his superb patience and vision, had five shot attempts, and initiated a play that created a net-front scramble in front of Daccord in the third period. Point being, when he has the puck, good things tend to happen, and the Ducks have sorely missed that.
The remainder of the season is critical for guys like him, McTavish, and Leo Carlsson. All guys who have struggled to stay in the lineup. The goal is to remain healthy and get on-ice and in-game reps together to start building toward something that they can be optimistic about going into next season. It’s been a tough season for Zegras especially, who missed most of training camp, started the season slow, and eventually succumbed to a variety of injuries that have limited him to 21 games. He will be one to watch over the next few weeks.
Loss Number 44, By the Numbers
That’s enough for the takeaways. Let’s take a look at some numbers from last night’s game, most of which are incredibly unflattering if you’re the Ducks.
2: The number of power play goals the Ducks allowed, on five chances. Those 10 penalty minutes by the way? Brings their season total up to 997, 48 more than the second-place Florida Panthers. Yikes.
3: Strap in. This one’s a doozy. First, it’s the number of consecutive Gibson starts in which the Ducks have produced zero goals. How does that even happen? That little support must be frustrating. It’s also the multiple by which the Kraken outshot the Ducks (36-12), the number of games that Carlsson, Zegras, McTavish, Alex Killorn, and Terry have played together this season, and finally, the number of points for Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen last night.
12: The number of shots on a goal the Ducks put on Daccord, which was a season-low. This output was arguably their worst of the season, on par only with their 5-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 13, widely considered their worst overall game of the campaign, when they had 13 shots.
21: The number of games Zegras has played this season, out of a possible 72. Injuries have robbed him of valuable development opportunities alongside a young and promising stable of young forwards in the Ducks organization. Hopefully, he plays games 73 through 82 and goes into the offseason healthy.
Will the Rematch Be Any Different?
The Kraken played like they were desperate to break out of a slump, and the Ducks didn’t. The rare occurrence of a fully healthy lineup for Anaheim failed to light a spark for the offense. This is a game to forget about if you’re the Ducks. Except they can’t really, because they are right back at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday (March 28) for the second of their back-to-back meetings with the Kraken. Can the Ducks shake off this performance and leave Seattle on a high note? Let’s find out.