The Ducks Made Some Progress Against the Wild, But it Wasn't Enough

The Anaheim Ducks managed to split their first mini-series against the Minnesota Wild of the season, claiming their first win on the year in shutout fashion 1-0 on Monday before dropping a close contest 3-2 Wednesday night. Although there was some progress in their overall game, including out-chancing the Wild for two thirds of Wednesday night’s contest, it still wasn’t enough to dispel all of the concerns surrounding their early-season struggles. Here are three key observations from the two-game series.

First Period Problems Persist

In my first job, my boss had a motto that stuck with me (and that I may or may not have violated on occasion): “To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is unacceptable”. The Ducks’ first period performances have been the embodiment of the third element of that phrase going back to the series against Vegas.

On Monday, the Wild out-chanced the Ducks six to zero from high-danger chances at five-on-five. Anaheim was simply incapable of defending the “home-plate” area in the slot. However, they were able to limit the Wild to only four dangerous, good enough to capitalize on a standout John Gibson performance and Nicolas Deslauriers tally.

After having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the first game, one may have expected the Ducks to learn from their mistakes and get off to a better start. Instead, here is a snap-shot of what happened:

In the series’ aftermath, head coach Dallas Eakins clearly stated he wanted to see more passion out of his group, and it’s not hard to see why when watching the second clip. The Ducks are routinely last to loose pucks on the sequence, which will drive any coach mad. In the first clip, Anaheim is caught out of position, easily giving up their own blueline.

Jacob Larsson then fails to apply any pressure to Kirill Kaprizov, who gets a glorious opportunity. Larsson played that rush as if there were a passing threat — there wasn’t — which gave Kaprizov all the room in the world to get his shot off. For the Ducks to compete at all this season, they cannot continue to hamstring themselves to start every game.

Blender Mode Activated

After getting nothing out of Isac Lundestrom during the Vegas series, Eakins correctly swapped Sonny Milano into the lineup. However, that would only be the beginning of the changes. As it became exceedingly apparent that the trio was not working — even after a benching — Eakins broke up Anaheim’s top line of Rickard Rakell, Adam Henrique, and Jakob Silfverberg. Danton Heinen was swapped into Rakell’s spot, while Rakell joined Milano and Ryan Getzlaf on the second line. Eakins’ decision — although not yielding any goals yet — provided a jolt to the lineup, with the Milano-Getzlaf-Rakell line looking particularly threatening almost as soon as they were assembled:

The newly formed trio has registered a 54.23 expected goals-for percentage, meaning that when they have been on the ice, the quality of the looks they have generated has out-weighed the chances that they have given up. Anaheim has been hurting for offense, and that line gives them just that. Conversely, the Heinen-Henrique-Silfverberg line has not lit the world on fire offensively, but they have driven play at a strong clip, controlling 58.33 percent of the on-ice shot attempts and 52.78 percent of the expected goals in the 12:27 of ice time they have accrued. With Milano out on Friday against Colorado. Eakins will have to go back to the drawing board, but it is clear now that he will not wait long to make changes if need be.

Give Deslauriers His Due

There was — and probably still is — a segment of the Ducks’ fanbase that would have preferred the franchise to hold on to its 2019 fourth-round draft pick as opposed to flipping it for a fourth-liner like Deslauriers. Give the man his due, though, as he currently leads all Ducks skaters in individual shot attempts, shots on goal, and expected goals per 60 minutes of five-on-five play. Against Minnesota, he potted two goals (and picked up an assist), including this game-winner on Monday:

Deslauriers has exceeded all expectations so far offensively, and although his underlying numbers have not been great, they have been close enough to break-even that his individual output does not get invalidated. Of course, it is not a great sign for any team when a fourth-liner is leading in so many different categories, but that should not overshadow the good work that Deslauriers has done so far.

Anaheim gets a brutal test in the extremely skilled Colorado Avalanche this weekend, a fact only exacerbated by the announced six-week absence of Josh Manson and the aforementioned shelving of Milano. With Gibson in net, the Ducks will always have a fighting chance, but they will need to build off of the positives against Minnesota in a big way in order to get their season back on track.