Many of the current Anaheim Ducks are familiar with long losing streaks.
The team lost at least six in a row four times last season, including dropping the final 13 games.
The Ducks will try to shake another six-game skid when they visit the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.
Anaheim is coming off an 8-2 road defeat against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday evening, the second time it lost by that score on its current slide.
Similar to the 8-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 15 in Denver, the Ducks were overcome by the opposition’s star players. Edmonton center Connor McDavid had a goal and four assists and Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist.
“It’s terrible to be on the losing side of an 8-2 game, but talking to (general manager) Pat Verbeek afterward, a lot of our guys are not used to seeing McDavid or Draisaitl, and the team’s fast, so we’ll learn from it,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “We’re on a bit of a losing streak. We’ve got to figure out a way to get out of it.”
The Ducks scored the first goal for the first time on their losing streak and took another 2-1 lead on Max Jones’ second goal of the game just 6:10 into the first period. However, the Oilers answered with seven consecutive goals, chasing Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal during the second period.
“When you lose a game like that, it’s definitely frustrating, but you’ve just got to move on and try to figure it out,” Jones said.
Cam Fowler, the cornerstone of Anaheim’s defense the past decade, finished with a minus-5 rating against the Oilers, dropping him to minus-11 during the losing streak.
Radko Gudas, another veteran on the young defensive corps for the Ducks, departed with an undisclosed injury in the second period on Sunday and did not return.
Vancouver has had two days to digest its 4-3 road loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. The Sharks have the worst record in the league.
“You’ve got to respect your opponents,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “This is a learning lesson. Playoff teams don’t do this sort of stuff.”
Tocchet said the Canucks need to take better angles on the ice, shorten up their shifts and execute their fundamentals.
“When you don’t have your game, you can’t (say), ‘I’m tired and can’t do my staples,'” Tocchet said.
Vancouver center Sam Lafferty said the Canucks can’t afford to take their foot off the gas, even against struggling teams like San Jose and Anaheim.
“I think the lesson for us (is play a) full 60 minutes,” Lafferty said. “When we’ve done that this year, we’ve had a lot of success. So I think that’s the formula for us.”
Vancouver still has a few skaters performing at a high level.
Quinn Hughes had an assist against the Sharks to extend his point streak to 11 games (four goals, 13 assists), tying teammate Filip Hronek for the longest streak by a NHL defenseman this season. The 11-game run also matches the franchise record for a defenseman, now jointly held by Hronek, Hughes, Dennis Kearns (1976-77) and Jiri Bubla (1983-84).
Hronek had an 11-game point streak from Oct. 24-Nov. 15.
Brock Boeser scored two goals against San Jose to give him 15 on the season, tied for the NHL lead entering Monday.
–Field Level Media
