The Anaheim Ducks weren’t satisfied with the way they went into the All-Star break, and they aren’t happy with the way they came out of it.
Anaheim will try to bounce back from consecutive losses when it opens a three-game road trip against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night, but it won’t come easy against the hottest team in the NHL.
“The margin for error is very, very low right now,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said.
Calgary won its seventh straight game on Tuesday night, beating the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2 behind goals from six different players.
The Blue Jackets came into the game on a three-game winning streak since the All-Star break and had won five of six overall.
The victory lifted Calgary into first place in the Pacific Division, and the Flames have also played the fewest games in the division.
“A lot of positive vibes coming into the rink,” said Dillon Dube, who scored a short-handed goal against Columbus. “There’s some stuff we still need to clean up heading into a back-to-back and stay sharp for Anaheim. It’s going to be a heavy game.”
Tyler Toffoli also scored in his debut for Calgary on Tuesday night.
Toffoli, who was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, was glad to be back in the Pacific Division, where he spent his first eight seasons with the Los Angeles Kings.
“It’ll be nice to play against Anaheim again,” he said.
Calgary went with backup goalie Dan Vladar against the Blue Jackets, saving Jacob Markstrom for the Ducks. Markstrom has won his past four starts, allowing just six goals in that span.
He lost in overtime to visiting Anaheim on Oct. 18.
The Ducks have had four days to rest and practice since losing to the visiting Seattle Kraken 4-3 on Friday. That was their first game since Jan. 31, when they lost 2-1 in overtime on the road against the Detroit Red Wings.
Both seemed like winnable games, especially after the Ducks had just completed a 4-0-1 stretch that included wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins.
The Ducks have been one of the surprise teams in the NHL through the first half of the season. Eakins said other teams are bringing their best efforts against Anaheim, such as Calgary saving Markstrom for the Ducks in the second game of a back-to-back set.
“There’s no surprise anymore,” Eakins said. “(Opponents) have really buckled down on some of our offensive guys.”
That means Anaheim needs to be even tighter on defense, starting with goalie John Gibson.
The 28-year-old All-Star allowed four goals against the Kraken in his last outing, the first time he yielded that many in his past 11 starts. He had a slow start coming out of his last All-Star appearance in 2019, allowing 11 goals on 49 shots in the first two games.
Eakins believes it’s going to take much more than Gibson to pull the Ducks out of their current funk.
“We have to be on top of everything,” he said. “We’re going to have (to see) some defensemen really step up. We’re going to have to get scoring from all of our lines, but especially from the ones we expect it from. We’re going to have to stay out of the penalty box. We’re going to have to continue to score on our power play.”
–Field Level Media