5 Takeaways: The Not Great Eight
Another series, another sweep. It has been three weeks since the Ducks last win. And with upcoming games against the Colorado Avalanche and a somehow newly hot Los Angeles Kings team, there is a good chance the streak could continue to grow.
The good news is that the Ducks actually played relatively well against the St. Louis Blues this week. At least at even strength. Which is why three of my five takeaways this week are actually positive. Go figure.
Let’s dive in.
1. Suboptimal lineup deployment
If there’s one thing Ducks nation has been yelling about over the past couple of weeks, it’s Dallas Eakins’ lineup deployment. Constantly putting Nic Deslauriers and Derek Grant out in high-leverage situations while sitting Trevor Zegras and regularly scratching Troy Terry and Danton Heinen is not the way to get people to believe you when you say you should be winning.
The call to fire Bob Murray gained more steam amongst this eight game losing streak and added the call for a change behind the bench as well. Even though the second game of the series was much better from a lineup perspective, you have to wonder where the line is for the Samuelis before they intervene.
2. Isac Lundestrom attacking the CTP crew personally
My newest conspiracy theory is that Lundestrom read what Jake, Felix, and I have been saying about our lack of confidence in his ability to be a full-time NHLer recently and decided he wanted to turn into a great hockey player out of pure spite.
You know what, if that’s what it takes to get him going, then we’ll sacrifice one for the team.
Lundestrom had the best series of his career agains St. Louis, potting his first hat trick to go along with a nice 54 xGF% according to Evolving Hockey. It seems pretty clear that the young Swede was able to become the primary playdriver on his line, which is something he hadn’t really done in his young NHL career to this point.
I’d stop short of saying this is who he is given the small sample size and his history of struggles in the NHL, but he has certainly earned his spot on this team for the moment.
3. Here comes Rickard Rakell
Many fans have been extremely frustrated with Rakell’s performance this season. And it’s not hard to understand why. With just nine points in 21 games headed into this series despite plenty of close calls.
The patience has finally been rewarded with Rakell tallying five points in his last three games, now only three points behind Max Comtois for the team lead. The good underlying numbers are beginning to pay dividends.
The only question remaining is if Rakell is dealt at the trade deadline. His increased production should only raise his value as discussions continue.
4. Trevor Zegras gets his first NHL point
The official game scorers weren’t going to take away this one. On a rush into the offensive zone, Zegras battled the Blues defense for possession as he was physically challenged. Somehow, the puck stayed with him before being kicked out wide to Rakell up on the play, who fired it past Jordan Binnington. Zegras got the first of what should many primary assists in career.
It’s been clear since his first game that the 19-year-old belongs in the NHL. Every time he’s on the ice it looks like he’s a split second away from pulling off an amazing move and scoring. Not to mention how much better the power play looks since he joined.
That point was well-deserved and will hopefully be followed by his first goal soon.
5. The magic number is eight
Eight straight games. The losing streak goes longer. Even though the Ducks actually played pretty well at 5 on 5 against St. Louis, they were done in by poor special teams play and mistakes taken advantage of by the Blues.
No one is entirely sure where the line is for change to finally happen. Many remember Randy Carlyle being fired two years ago after a seven game losing streak. What some are forgetting, however, is that the seven game losing streak came after an earlier ten game losing streak. So it might still take a lot more losses to get the change this team so desperately needs.