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The Anaheim Ducks were shut out by the Florida Panthers tonight, falling 3-0.
The Ducks were coming into the game off a winless five-game road trip, which wrapped up on Tuesday with an overtime loss to the New York Rangers.
It was actually a close game against the Rangers (despite the Ducks being badly outshot in the final frame), with the teams going back and forth, trading goals. The Rangers opened the scoring under five minutes into the game, but the Ducks tied it later in the frame, with a puck bouncing in off Max Comtois in front. Mika Zibanejad got the lead back for the Rangers early in the second period, but Anaheim was able to respond right away on a power play, with Cam Fowler putting the puck through traffic and beating Alexandar Georgiev.
The Ducks were heavily outshot in the third period, but managed to take the lead midway through the frame, with Derek Grant converting on a breakaway. New York tied it once more just a few minutes later though off a power play goal from Chris Kreider, sending the game to overtime. Then in the extra frame, Adam Fox was the hero for the Rangers, taking a pass on a rush and sliding the puck through John Gibson.
Anaheim picked up only two of a possible 10 points on the road trip, losing to three non-playoff teams over the five games.
Then tonight, things didn’t go much better.
The Ducks were completely outplayed in the opening frame, being outshot by a ridiculous 19-4 margin. Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice in the back half of the frame for the Panthers, with one of those goals coming with only about seven seconds left in the period, and the Ducks were down 2-0 after 20 minutes.
In the second period, Max Comtois missed an open net early in the frame and the Panthers capitalized, going back the other way and increasing the lead to 3-0, as Joe Thornton buried a loose puck. Florida outplayed the Ducks through the rest of the frame as well, outshooting the Ducks 15-8, but it remained a three-goal Panthers lead heading into the intermission.
Anaheim really didn’t get much going in the third period either, being limited to only five shots. While the prevented Florida from running up the score, they still fell 3-0.
The Ducks were outshot 42-17 tonight and it was a pretty rough game. If you look at their last two games specifically, Anaheim has been outshot by an ugly margin of 80-40.
So this now marks a six-game losing streak for the Ducks. As much as the decline of the on-ice product is noticeable, the reality is that right now, the focus is going to be on what the Ducks do before the trade deadline anyways.
A key piece of news from the game against Florida wasn’t so much about the game itself, but about Hampus Lindholm being held out of the lineup in anticipation of a trade. The Ducks won’t be a playoff team and with Rickard Rakell as another key name heading into the deadline as well, we’ll wait and see what gets done before the deadline.
Anaheim’s next game comes on Monday against the Nashville Predators.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM MARCH
Ducks defeat Bruins with late goal from Trevor Zegras
Ducks fall short against Golden Knights
Ducks face crucial decisions with pending UFAs ahead of trade deadline
Ducks pick up overtime win against Sharks
Ducks claim Andrej Sustr off waivers from Lightning
Ducks allow five goals in first period, suffer blowout loss against Chicago
Ducks fall 4-1 to Predators
Ducks come up short against Devils, lose in shootout
Ducks stay winless on road trip with loss to Islanders
Ducks trade Josh Manson to Avalanche
Ducks sign Drew Helleson 
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