Last night (Dec. 5), the Anaheim Ducks couldn’t double down on the Colorado Avalanche and dropped a sloppy, uninspiring game to the 2022 Stanley Cup champs. A late-game burst made it interesting but ultimately the Ducks did not play a complete enough game to get the victory.
Related: 4 Takeaways From Ducks’ Shootout Thriller Against Avalanche
In typical fashion, the Ducks hung around, kept it close, and were right there at the end. But their game remains unpolished and incomplete which is why they find themselves on the wrong side of these close games time after time. There are more questions than answers in Anaheim right now. Let’s look at what went wrong against the Avalanche via the following takeaways.
Negative: Ducks Continue to Fall Behind Early and Commit Mental Errors
The Ducks have everything they need to start games on time and ready to play. They have a committed and cerebral head coach in Greg Cronin that preaches intensity and work ethic. They have a group of veterans in Cam Fowler, Adam Henrique, Alex Killorn, and others that know how to get a team in the right mindset. Finally, they are chock-full of young players with the legs and the energy to come out of the gates storming. Yet, for the third straight time, they were behind less than two minutes into the game. The inability of this team to settle into a game flow without having to play catch up is really inhibiting them right now.
Further, how do you explain yet another too-many-men penalty? They took their eighth of the season in last night’s loss. The worst part about this particular one was that it came when the Ducks had all of the momentum. Sam Carrick and Leo Carlsson scored within a few minutes of each other to make it a one-goal game, and the penalty meant the Ducks had to play two of the final four minutes shorthanded. Granted, they killed it off and shut down an Avalanche power play unit that was down Cale Makar, but that’s just not going to work. A too-many-men penalty comes down to a breakdown in communication and that shouldn’t happen eight times in 25 games.
Negative: Ducks Couldn’t Stop Nathan MacKinnon
Nathan MacKinnon figured into every goal in the win. His goal and two assists brought his point total on the season to 34. That’s pretty incredible. On most if not all nights, the opposition will struggle to contain him, and that was the case for the Ducks. They didn’t have an answer for his speed. It drove Ducks defenders back all evening, especially on the opening goal, when his speed created space for Kurtis MacDermid to find a soft spot in the offensive zone to receive a pass and put a shot on goal that beat Gibson.
Negative: Injuries Are Piling Up
Mason McTavish, the Ducks’ best player on offense so far this season, did not play because of an injury suffered in the previous game on Dec. 2. His absence created a gaping hole in a lineup that was already desperate for additional sources of offense.
Additionally, the Ducks suffered an in-game injury when Max Jones left the contest after a clean collision with Bowen Byram. It’s unclear whether the injury came during the collision or in a post-whistle scuffle, but regardless, Jones didn’t return after that play and it left the Ducks down a forward for a crucial stretch of the game. Hopefully, clarity on both McTavish and Jones’ statuses will be provided in the coming days. Jones has been playing well lately, and earned himself some power play minutes because of it.
Jamie Drysdale, Trevor Zegras, and Isac Lundestrom are skating but not nearing an imminent return. McTavish will sit at least one more game because he did not travel on the road trip. Losing another lineup regular in Jones would really put the Ducks in a bind.
Positive: Ducks Executed Their 5-on-3 to Make It Interesting
The Ducks continue to struggle to generate offense at five-on-five, but they are taking advantage of their power play opportunities, at least. They were gifted a two-minute two-man advantage late in the third and executed it to perfection, which brought the game to 3-2.
Just when it looked like the Ducks were content to pass the puck around the outside during the man advantage, Troy Terry and Carlsson connected on two consecutive sequences where Terry made a seam pass through the Colorado penalty killers. Carlsson scored on the second such sequence. Terry, despite producing offense at an alarmingly low rate this season, faked the shot so well that Carlsson had almost the entire net to shoot at. A player of his caliber wasn’t going to miss that one.
Ducks Still Face Many Questions Without Many Answers
The win over the Avalanche last Saturday (Dec. 2) was a feel-good story but it doesn’t diminish the fact that the Ducks have a lot to figure out right now. They are taking undisciplined and untimely penalties. They aren’t putting together complete games, but rather spurts of good play. They can’t generate offense consistently at five-on-five. Those kinds of deficiencies won’t win in this league. They know that. The question is, how do they fix it? That’s one for Cronin and company to determine.
Luckily for the Ducks, they move on to face the underwhelming Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, who should be counting their lucky stars every day that they have Connor Bedard. They don’t have much going for them otherwise. The San Jose Sharks, who started the season 0-10-1, have even surpassed them in the standings. Perfect opportunity for the Ducks to take advantage and get back in the win column, right?
What did you think of the Ducks’ performance in this rematch? Sound off in the comments below!
