The Anaheim Ducks need a return to home ice to be the tonic for their struggles.
Anaheim is back in action on Monday and hosting the Utah Mammoth while in the throes of a three-game losing skid, with the latest a 2-0 road loss at the hands of the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
The Ducks headed out on a three-game road trip flying high and riding a seven-game winning streak, but return to Orange County after dropping a trio of games in regulation.
And coach Joel Quenneville, who has plenty of experience guiding a young team as it works its way up from being a bottom feeder to a champion, will not mince words.
“Disappointed a lot,” Quenneville said about his team’s setback in Minnesota. “We took 14 minutes and all, all, dumb penalties. Every time we started getting a little momentum or some traction there, we’d change momentum with a penalty have to kill and use a lot of our good guys. That slows you down. … We got what we deserved.”
Hard lessons are not uncommon for a club like the Ducks, who are loaded with young talent that must learn what it takes to be a consistent club.
Anaheim went on its trip the league’s top-scoring club, but only scored four goals in its slump, and none on the power play.
Center Luke Carlsson was held off the scoreboard in back-to-back games for the first time this season. However, the 20-year old is still tied for fourth in the league with 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists).
Despite the struggles, however, the Ducks remain in a playoff position five weeks into the season, which is no small feat and a reason to not lose faith.
The Mammoth are also having their struggles after a promising start to the campaign.
Utah is coming off a 3-2 overtime loss at home to the New York Islanders on Friday in which it surrendered a third-period lead.
The Mammoth have only one win in five games and only two victories in eight outings after winning eight of their first 10 games of the season.
“We lost our momentum in the second period,” coach Andre Tourigny said. “I think we were on our heels too much in the third period. We were protecting the lead, but we did not have the same aggression.”
Like the Ducks, Utah is trying to make that jump from being an also-ran for many seasons to a playoff team.
Right now, the Mammoth are also going through their share of growing pains.
“If there’s one thing in our game we need to remain aggressive,” Tourigny said. “We flirt with getting a little bit too passive. We need to be patient, but aggressive. We need to find that line with consistency because you become passive.”
Curiously, special teams are the ultimate mixed bag for Utah. The club has failed to score a power-play goal in eight games (0-for-17), but been perfect on the penalty kill in the same span. (18-for-18).
Assistant coach John Madden deserves credit for the penalty kill having devised a plan that works for the personnel.
“Our guys are sticking to it, and they believe in it right now, and I think that’s a really good sign of (our) group,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “We’re not relying on one guy to clear the puck. I think we’ve had a couple shared clears over the last couple of games that those (have been) the difference, killing off another 30 seconds of their power play.”
Veteran Nick Schmaltz has cooled off after a blazing October, where he scored seven goals, added 10 assists and was a plus-7 in 11 games. He does have goals in two of his last three outings, but only three in seven November starts and is -4 in seven games.
