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The Anaheim Ducks continue to limp to the finish line as the season draws to an end, with four losses in five games over the past two weeks.
After dropping both games of their Florida road trip in overtime to the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning last week, the Ducks managed to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets last weekend, before dropping both of their games against the Los Angeles Kings this week.
The Ducks will miss the playoffs for a fourth year in a row, following an impressive start to the season which resulted in a bit of promise about the team. Anaheim started the season with a 17-10-7 record through 34 games in 2021, and held a playoff spot for much of the first half of the year. It was an unexpected, but really exciting result.
After a fairly lackluster January though, things took a turn for the Ducks after the All-Star Break, plummeting in the standings and suffering loss after loss. Since the start of February, the Ducks have gone 7-19-5 and have been the worst team in the NHL (by points percentage).
The lack of recent special teams success has been a major factor in the decline. They’ve dropped from 26.4 per cent on the power play and 86.4 per cent on the penalty kill at the end of December (sitting top-five in the league in both categories), down to 17.2 per cent on the man advantage and just 77.7 per cent on the penalty kill.
Another major factor was the hard decline of John Gibson’s performance. Named as an All-Star for the Pacific Division, Gibson’s play plummeted in the back half of the year, having posted an .878 save percentage from February onwards, with just three wins in his last 21 games.
Anaheim’s offense has also been down – the Ducks were averaging 31 shots per game and 3.03 goals per game until the end of December. Since the start of February, it’s been 28.6 shots per game and just 2.58 goals per game, which ranks 30th in that stretch.
Troy Terry slowed down a bit after his explosive start to the season and the Ducks did have to deal with some key absences, but too many players ended up failing to produce in the back half as well. Sonny Milano, for example, was holding a 60 points per 82 pace by the end of 2021 but has managed just seven points in 28 games since February.
Then obviously losing three key players at the trade deadline didn’t help, but these struggles all started before the deadline.
Regardless, it’s a disappointing turn for what was an exciting first half of the season. We’ll see what the team looks like next season, though it’s unlikely Anaheim will be a playoff team in a year’s time.
The Ducks now have just three games remaining, with Ryan Getzlaf’s final game in Anaheim coming tonight against the St. Louis Blues
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QuizWiz
OTHER ARTICLES FROM APRIL
Ducks drop two home games to Stars but stop 11-game losing skid vs. Coyotes
Ducks suffer blowout loss to Oilers at home
Ryan Getzlaf announces he will retire at end of season
Ducks eliminated from playoff contention, sign Blake McLaughlin 
Anaheim Ducks Blogger • 
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