On Feb. 25, not too long ago, and having recently come out of the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off, the Anaheim Ducks had a 25-24-7 record and were six points out of the second wild card spot in the Western Conference standings. They had raised some eyebrows, displaying some resilience and fortitude after what could have been a disastrous six-game road trip from Jan. 9 through Jan. 18, where they went 1-4-1.
Takeaways from the Ducks 3-2 Loss to Utah
After that trip, the Ducks went 7-2-1 to claw their way into the edges of the playoff picture. They were finding ways to generate offense in every situation at 5v5, off the rush, cycle, and forecheck. Defensively, they managed pucks well, kept their time in the defensive zone limited by killing plays early, and were as tenacious as they were attentive in defensive zone coverage.
They even produced much-improved underlying numbers compared to their season on the whole during that stretch at 5v5, accounting for 48% of the shot attempts share (up from their season mark of 45.6%), 57.9% of the goals share (up from 48.2%), and 49.5% of the expected goals share (up from 44.2%).
The Ducks had put themselves within reach of the cluster of teams chasing that final wild card spot and were scheduled to match up against many of them in their next several games. That upcoming slate was to be the meaningful games late in the season that they, and every team looking to exit a rebuild, hoped to play in late-February/early-March.
On the docket were teams they were then in the playoff chase with like the Vancouver Canucks (twice), St. Louis Blues, and Utah Hockey Club as well as teams at or near the bottom of the NHL standings like the Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres. They also had games against powerhouse teams like the Washington Capitals and Edmonton Oilers along with a team fighting to keep its head above water in the form of the New York Islanders.
The Ducks shrank with every opportunity to gain ground or remain relevant in the nine games following their best ten-game stretch of the season. Losses to the Sabres (3-2 on Feb. 25) and Blackhawks (6-3 on March 1) may have been nails in the coffin of Anaheim’s slim playoff chances. They responded well following each loss with substantial wins against the Canucks on Feb. 27 and Oilers on March 4, but for the Ducks to pose a true threat to the playoff bubble, they needed to beat the teams near the bottom of the standings.
“I think we’re kind of riding the fine line of missed opportunities and good experience,” Ducks forward Ryan Strome said. “We’ve had a good season and we compete really hard. It’s not a moral victory, but at the same time I think these are great opportunities to learn from and grow from.
“You’re not going to snap your fingers and go from getting top-five draft picks for a couple years in a row to being in the playoffs. It’s got to be an evolution. We’re seeing now the only way to experience it is to go through it as a group”
“I’m definitely itching, no doubt.” Strome said when asked if he was getting impatient to get back to the playoffs. “Since a few games before the 4 Nations break, it’s been the most fun I’ve had in three years.
“Just seeing the intensity ramp up, seeing the importance ramp up, seeing the crowd fired up. Z (Trevor Zegras) has been commenting how great it is, how fun this is. It feels like the intensity’s been ramped up. It’s not pond hockey, it’s not meaningless hockey.”
The Ducks now have a 28-30-7 record and are eight points from the Calgary Flames in the second wild card spot and eight points ahead of the Sabres who are 30th in the overall NHL standings. Barring an unlikely scenario where the Ducks rally and win nearly all of their remaining 17 games on the schedule, coupled with the teams ahead of them struggling down the stretch, the Ducks are all but eliminated from playoff contention.
“I was thinking about that when I drove in (to practice) this morning how narrow the wins vs losses are,” Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said. “They’re experiencing these games where there are plays that are going to impact the outcome.
“They’ve all been very coachable and what’s most important, is that they’re aware of it. They understand it. So now the next thing is, can they execute it when these games are teetering on the next play?”
On the positive side of the equation, the young core is clicking and producing while they also got a taste of what it’s like to play meaningful games in the second half of the season. On the negative side, in the last nine games, they’re back to producing poor underlying numbers (44.2% of the shot share at 5v5, 48.9% of the goals share, and 44% of the expected goals share). Their puck management has taken a step back and they aren’t manufacturing the early kills in defensive zone coverage necessary to spark rush offense the other way, the true strength of the Ducks’ offense.
A question looms for the remainder of the season and may as well heading into the offseason: which team are they? Are the Ducks the team that clawed their way into a brief playoff chase, or are they the team that fell out initially and later squandered opportunities to maintain relevance? The answer is likely that they’re a bit of both and they’ll now need to properly diagnose what made them successful and what didn’t in order to learn from these pivotal stretches.
Ducks Duo Ranks Second on The Athletic’s Power Rankings
Anaheim Ducks 2025 Trade Deadline Review
Read the full article here
