Ducks coach Greg Cronin said his team’s frustration is “at a super-high level” heading into Anaheim’s Sunday night game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Ducks, who have scored a league-low 27 goals in 13 games (4-7-2), bring a four-game losing streak into the contest. They have dropped the first three outings of a six-game homestand, getting outscored 14-5 in the process.
Anaheim comes in off a 5-2 loss to Minnesota on Friday, falling behind 3-0 in the first period against a Wild team that was playing the second half of a back-to-back set. Trevor Zegras backhanded a penalty shot try over the net in the second period and the Ducks finished 0-for-6 on the power play, managing just two shots on goal and failing to score during a key four-minute double-minor high-sticking penalty on defenseman Zach Bogosian midway through the third period while trailing 3-1.
“I think any team, no matter how good you are or how old you are or how young you are, when you’re not scoring, it’s like the balloon is getting bigger and bigger,” Cronin said. “We’re just waiting for it to pop in a good way and get some goals.”
Said Anaheim defenseman Brian Dumoulin: “When goals aren’t going in, obviously the guys can get frustrated and your game can slip a little because you cheat a little bit to the offensive side. I think we’ve just got to know that if we defend hard, we’ll get chances off of it.”
Robby Fabbri scored his 100th career NHL goal in the loss and Mason McTavish also tallied for the Ducks, who outshot Minnesota, 35-31.
“When you look back at it, we could have probably scored six goals,” Cronin said. “(But) would-have, could-have, should-have doesn’t mean anything at the end of the game.”
Columbus also brings a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) into the contest and will be playing the second game of a back-to-back that began with a 5-2 loss at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
The Blue Jackets led 1-0 after one period on Dmitri Voronkov’s tip-in goal but the Kings rebounded to take a 2-1 advantage in the second on goals by defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and Warren Foegele. Trevor Moore then scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with his team shorthanded early in the third period.
“Honestly I thought we played a solid game but at the end of the day we want to come out with a win,” said forward Justin Danforth, who had two assists. “We’ve got to find a way to win games. That’s what playoff teams do. So we have to get back on track, get a little confidence back, and a big game tomorrow.”
Columbus coach Dean Evason said his team must cut down on the mistakes that led directly to the first three goals by the Kings.
“The first goal we turn it over,” Evason said. “The second goal we make a huge mistake. The third goal we turn it over. That’s three goals. We’ve got a 1-0 lead. In key areas of the ice we have to make the right reads or clearly not turn the puck over (and) give teams momentum to come back after us. And we did that here tonight.”
