The Ducks get back to work on a five-game homestand tonight, hosting the Boston Bruins at Honda Center.
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Anaheim kicked off the season’s final extended homestand Sunday night with a 5-2 loss to Carolina. The Ducks got back within a goal late in the third period that night, on Trevor Zegras’ rebound chance in front with just over three minutes to play, but the comeback bid would fall just short against one of the league’s top-ranked teams.
“Early on, it’s not like we were playing badly, but it just felt that maybe we were a little hesitant,” forward Troy Terry said. “They have a really good team and they skate hard. They come at you fast with their forecheck and I thought at times we were maybe a little hesitant at the start. ..I thought [later on] we had a lot of chances to score and maybe change the way the game went. It just wouldn’t go in.”
“Those sting because we had plenty of chances to get more than two goals,” added head coach Greg Cronin. “We have played them since I have been here four [times] and I thought the third period was the best period we played out of the other three games…They are a hot team to sustain pressure on offensively and they make you work for every inch of ice. I thought our response when they made it 3-1 was impressive, but we couldn’t score.”
Highlighted among those offensive struggles was a difficult night for the power play, which went 0-for-6 and missed on a couple of third-period opportunities at closing the deficit.
“The power play can’t go 0-6,” Terry said. “That’s a team that their penalty kill comes pretty much just all out pressure everywhere. You know they are one of those teams where [your power-play] can feel a little disjointed at times because they are coming at you so hard and all of a sudden you have a grade-A chance. Through some of the power plays that were ugly we still ended up with a grade-A chance at the net. That is kind of the way it is, but we just need to bear down and put them in the net. We also just need to be maybe a little more connected and support each other more when teams like that pressure really hard.”
The loss dropped the Ducks 30-32-8 on the season. Anaheim now sits 15 points out of a playoff spot with 12 games still to play, but is currently on-pace for a 20-point improvement on it’s 2023-24 season total – likely to be the second-biggest jump in the NHL this season.
“We keep battling,” captain Radko Gudas said. “I think it’s been a fun process finding out what we’re made of and what we’re capable of. We’re capable of coming back in games and scoring late goals, having that belief in ourselves. We’ve gotten a lot of growth and experience. We’ve taken a step forward as a majority. It’s not everybody on their own page. Obviously, mistakes still happen but overall we’ve done a good job getting everybody comfortable [in a playoff-type environment]. We’ve been playing the right way. We’ve been able to play meaningful games the last few weeks.”
Anaheim now turns its attention to a Boston squad that looks a whole lot different than it did the last time these teams met just over a month ago in Beantown. The Bruins, likely to miss the postseason for the first time in nine years, elected to sell at the trade deadline, most notably dealing captain and franchise icon Brad Marchand to Florida. Marchand, sidelined since the trade with an upper-body injury, departed Boston fourth in club history in games played and goals, and fifth in points.
The B’s also traded veteran defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto and versatile forward Charlie Coyle to Colorado.
“We know we’re sort of taking a step back in the course of the season because we haven’t been to the level we need to be,” Bruins GM Don Sweeney told NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. “But the mandate is, hey, let’s get this right and make the right decisions moving forward. And [these trades were] part of that…We’re trying to put things in a position where we’re right back in that competitive mode that very next year and doing things right.”
Boston now enters play Tuesday with a 2-4-1 mark since the trade deadline, including a 7-2 beating in Los Angeles Sunday night for the club’s fourth straight loss.
“I wish I knew (how to end this losing streak),” Bruins center Casey Mittelstadt, acquired from Colorado in the Coyle deal, said Sunday. “I think it comes down to just coming out and playing hard. Obviously, you get in a slump like this and maybe you’re gripping your stick a little more than normal. It comes down to just coming out and playing your game, playing with some poise and some calm.”
Boston (30-33-9, 69 points) sits seventh in the Atlantic Division, six points back of a Wild Card spot.
