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The Ducks have made a short, dense road trip feel long and grueling, extracting a solitary point from their opportunities to accumulate six more in the standings ahead of this journey’s fourth and final game in Columbus on Saturday against the Blue Jackets.
They would love a high note on which to conclude a stammering staccato that earned them a point from a toss-up game in Montreal before it got them bombarded at Ottawa and then kept at arm’s length by Toronto, all in the span of just four days.
While the theme of opposing individual dominance carried over –– Ottawa’s Drake Batherson had four points in a 5-1 drilling before Toronto veteran Max Pacioretty turned in three during a 3-2 victory -– the Ducks’ back-to-back efforts varied immensely in quality.
“Ottawa was skating 100 miles an hour and we were skating about 60, (whereas in Toronto) we had a lot of pace and urgency,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin told reporters in Toronto.
That was consistent with his harsh assessment of the outing in Ottawa, which saw 10 power plays split evenly between the two teams but all three man-advantage markers in the match being scored by the Senators.
“We didn’t have good special teams, but we weren’t good five-on-five either,” Cronin told reporters in Kanata. “I mean, I don’t remember the last game we played that was that bad.”
Their struggles endured despite the fact that the Ducks have gotten reinforcements all along the way. Trade acquisition Jacob Trouba debuted in Montreal, Leo Carlsson returned from an upper-body injury against Ottawa and Robby Fabbri made his way back from knee surgery versus Toronto. They also got relatively good news on Trevor Zegras’ left knee, as a torn meniscus will cause him to miss six weeks rather than the lengthier period once feared.
Prior to those reappearances, veteran defender Cam Fowler hopped back aboard, but in his five games since returning from an upper-body injury, the Ducks have been winless (0-4-1) after they’d gone 2-2-1 in their previous five and 4-0-1 before that. With Fowler in the lineup this season, the Ducks have meandered to a 4-10-3 mark, posting a 6-4-1 record without him in their mix.
Fowler, who is in the penultimate season of a contract that pays him $6.5 million annually against the salary cap and carries heavy trade protection (he submitted a four-team trade list before the season, narrowing suitors considerably), is the Ducks’ longest-tenured player. He recently surpassed Corey Perry for the second-most games played in franchise history. Yet now his presence has signified undesired evenings in the pressbox for promising young blue-liners like Pavel Mintyukov, Jackson LaCombe and Olen Zellweger.
LaCombe and Carlsson were among the four goal-scorers in a win over Columbus at Honda Center on Nov. 10, which snapped a four-game losing winless slump for the Ducks while condemning Columbus to its fifth of six straight losses.
Columbus sat in last place in the Metropolitan Division entering Friday’s schedule, but was an eyelash below .500. Zach Werenski is one of just three defensemen who lead their respective clubs in scoring – he’s in illustrious company with Nashville’s Roman Josi and Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes – while Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko each anchor a forward line presently.
Ducks at Columbus
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Victory+, KCOP (Ch. 13)
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