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Ducks continue to look for answers against the Panthers

January 14, 2024 by Los Angeles Daily News

The Ducks continued marching through the longest road trip of their campaign and sought to avert the same result they got in its immediately preceding season-long homestand: a lonesome victory.

They got a win in their first game of the journey, against Nashville, but have dropped two straight as part of an interminable rut that’s seen them lose 22 of 27 matches. Next, they’ll face the Florida Panthers on Monday and then travel to Washington for a Tuesday showdown with the Capitals.

They lost, 2-1, to Florida back on Nov. 17 and, 13 days later, 5-4, to the Capitals. To say nothing of empty-net goals or academic markers, the Ducks have been involved in 18 true one-goal games and lost 11 of them en route to a 7-10-1 record.

That wasn’t the case Saturday in Tampa Bay, where Alex Killorn’s emotional homecoming after spending over a decade with the Lightning was spoiled by a lopsided 5-1 count. The typically penalty-prone Ducks committed a reasonable three infractions, but were touched up for a power-play goal during each of their three shorthanded situations.

“[After the first period], their game just took off and our game went flat and downhill,” said Coach Greg Cronin in his broadest assessment of the contest.

For the Ducks, losing a player to injury has become almost as much of a certainty in each match as the opening puck drop. In Tampa Bay, they lost Brett Leason after a thunderous check sent him to the dressing room. While rookie Leo Carlsson remained a distinct possibility for at least one game of the upcoming back-to-back set, Leason appears doubtful for both games.

The one-time Capital Leason had a goal and an assist against his former club, one of his two multi-point performances this season, in the Ducks’ highest-scoring squeaker to date.

Neither he nor Carlsson played in the first game against the Panthers, who just snapped a nine-game winning streak with a 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. Florida’s ascent reached its pinnacle thanks to a goal with 0.7 seconds remaining in overtime by leading scorer Sam Reinhart that sent the Kings to their hotel rooms in agony on Thursday.

Perennial Selke Trophy contender for top defensive forward Aleksander Barkov showed off the offensive end of his superb two-way game during the Panthers’ tear, notching 15 points across the nine victories. While that total was high enough to tie for fourth in the NHL during that span, it wasn’t the most prolific showing on Barkov’s own team. Agitator extraordinaire and offensive force Matthew Tkachuk compiled two points per game to reach 18 during the surge.

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During the same time period, the Ducks’ top scorer was Frank Vatrano with a modest seven-point output, also in nine games.

The Capitals have been offensively challenged in their own right but have a seasoned group that’s fared much better in one-goal games. They have gone 13-2-6 in one-goal games, all while managing significant injuries of their own.

They’ve been without leading scorer Alex Ovechkin (lower-body) for the past two games and defenseman Rasmus Sandin remained on injured reserve along with former Duck Sonny Milano (who was progressing toward a return) and Nicklas Bäckström. Bäckström, a core player for the Caps, has played just eight games this season. Physical winger T.J. Oshie has also missed 17 games, including the prior meeting with the Ducks.

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