The Ducks may have flown north in the shape of an L as they entered their two-game road trip mired in a five-loss funk ahead of their confrontation with the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Before the slump, there had been ecstatic highs from their half-dozen third-period rallies, which had been flanked by the doldrums of a 1-4-0 start and their current skid.
“Everything’s going to be OK. This is a process. I said it before, we won those six games, and I was excited too, [but] we know that there was some that we shouldn’t have won,” said coach Greg Cronin, alluding to the equilibrium of breaks over the season to date and his team’s willingness to learn from mistakes.
“We’re fighting and clawing to get points, and we’ve got to take the long view of what’s going on.”
While the Ducks’ competitiveness has been as steady as any in the NHL, their statistical performance has shown some bipolar tendencies. Yet they absolutely dominate one area of the leaderboard, and that area is penalties. After their 5-2 loss to the Kings on Friday, during which two power-play goals in the first period dug them a hole and greased up its sides, they had taken 14 more penalties than any other organization. Despite ranking fifth in penalties drawn, their negative-22 penalty differential was the worst in the NHL by eight infractions. They lead the league in minor penalties, major penalties and even bench penalties, having racked up a confounding seven citations for having too many men on the ice.
After the Ducks’ hard-luck start, which included a pair of agonizing losses at Honda Center after they won their home opener, a four-game road trip produced four wins, including half their record number of early-season comebacks.
Veteran Alex Killorn, who scored his first goal as a Duck on Friday after an illustrious career with the Tampa Bay Lightning that included two championships and four trips to the finals, thought this might be an opportune time for another excursion, which they’ll have with visits to Edmonton on Sunday and Vancouver on Tuesday.
“Maybe get away a little bit, have a team dinner or some sort of get-together,” Killorn suggested. “The effort’s always there, I think that’s consistent with this team and it’s really important.”
Awaiting the Ducks (9-11-0) north of the border will be peril in the form of the Oilers, who produced the greatest season statistically in NHL history on the power play last season, and also the Canucks, whose net power-play percentage ranks third in the league.
Edmonton (6-12-1) fell on of its face out of the starting blocks but trounced the Washington Capitals 5-0 on Friday in its most recent game. Already having fired Coach Jay Woodcroft, they may next be looking to shake things up in goal, where former King Jack Campbell has been an abject disappointment and Stuart Skinner had endured a sophomore slump. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have elicited comparisons to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on ice, but their 46 points in 36 games may feel a little less impressive considering that they’ve also combined for a minus-11 rating while the Oilers have rapidly gone from A-list to aimless.
Ducks at Edmonton
When: 6 p.m. Sunday
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
How to watch: Bally Sports SoCal