Life comes at you fast, and in the NHL faster still.
The Ducks embarked on their journey one victory shy of the longest winning streak in the league this season, but their seven-game rampage gave way to a winless trip (0-3-0 with a 12-4 aggregate score) that left them on their longest skid of the young season.
They’ll have an opportunity to get back on track Monday, when they’ll return to Honda Center to host the Utah Mammoth.
In their most recent match, a homecoming for Minnesotans Jackson LaCombe and Drew Helleson, the Ducks fell 2-0 to the Wild on Saturday. On the plus side, they went seven for seven shorthanded. But that meant they took seven penalties to close out a trip that saw them get thumped 6-3 in Detroit and humbled by the Stanley Cup favorite Colorado Avalanche, 4-1.
“Disappointed, a lot,” Coach Joel Quenneville told reporters in Saint Paul. “We took 14 minutes and they were all dumb penalties. Every time we started getting a little momentum or some traction there, we’d change momentum with a penalty.”
He added: “They played well and we got what we deserved.”
Saturday marked the first time that the Ducks, who started the trip atop the NHL’s offensive leaderboard and remained tied for second in goals per game afterward, were shut out this season. They’ve lost every game in which they have scored two or fewer goals, won just one of three three-goal showings and have gone 10-0-0 when tallying four or more times.
Leo Carlsson’s 11-game point streak has become a two-match drought, with forward lines being chopped up in Minnesota. Mikael Granlund returned to notch a goal in Detroit, but the same lower-body issue that kept him out of eight prior games then precluded him from a ninth in the Twin Cities.
In Motown, a healthy Ryan Strome made his season debut. He centered the fourth line, flanked by his pal Frank Vatrano and enforcer Ross Johnston. Last season, Vatrano and Strome were on the Ducks’ most relied-upon line over the course of 82 games alongside Troy Terry, with the duo’s presence on the fourth line presently being a strong indicator of the Ducks’ improved forward depth.
“You’re just trying to get your legs back when you’ve been off for a long time,” Strome told reporters in Detroit. “I can’t say enough about Frank and Ross for helping me out when I needed it in the first couple of shifts.”
Like the Ducks, Utah has been a pleasant surprise in the standings thanks to an early-season surge. In October, they had their own seven-game tear but have won just two of eight decisions since.
In seven games since signing an $80 million contract extension, Logan Cooley has just two points and no goals after racking up eight goals and a dozen points in his first 11 appearances. Clayton Keller and Mikael Sergachev have combined for seven points in the Mammoth’s past three outings.