Anaheim Ducks Host Tampa Bay, Trying To Keep Point Streak Alive

After a tough 2-1 Overtime loss on Sunday night, The Anaheim Ducks look to start a new win streak, as they take on The Tampa Bay Lightning.

Anaheim Ducks (24-13-9, 57 points)

The Anaheim Ducks come into this game two points clear of Edmonton for 1st place in the Pacific Division. They are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games, recording 16 of a possible 20 points. They’ve done it mostly on the defensive side.

Duck Defense:

During this 7-1-2 stretch, the Ducks have allowed two goals or fewer in 8 of the 10 games. This includes three shutouts wins over Detroit, Dallas and Arizona.

Last 10 Games On Defense:

• 1.40 GA/G
• 31.4 Shots/Allowed
• 33/37 in Penalty Kills (89%)

What About The Offense?:

The Ducks offensively are scoring 5.2 goals per game for this 10-game stretch, outscoring teams 52-14.

They’re facing a Tampa team that has given up five goals or more eight times this season.

Tampa Bay Lightning (21-20-4, 46 points)

Season Outlook:

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Last year’s finalist in the Eastern Conference has fallen on some hard times lately. The Lightning start the season 13-7-1, they have gone 8-13-3 since that start. They’ve lost 7 of 10 since December 23rd. They are without Steven Stamkos who has a meniscus tear. Need I pile on?

Their Last Game:

They are coming in off a 2-1 win over the Kings in Los Angeles. It was a game in which they were +3 turnovers, +4 faceoff wins, 2/2 in PK’s & -3 shots on goal.

Not Very Defensive:

The reason for the Lightning’s recent rut of bad play you wonder? They have really struggled ODDLY defensively this year.

The Numbers Show:

• 25th in Goals allowed, 4th Best Last year.
• 21st in PK%, 7th Best last year.
• -84 in Team +/-. They were +87 last year.

There are 22 players for the Lightning this season that have negative +/- ratings, the worst belongs to Andrej Sustr with a -12. They had only 10 players with negative +/- ratings a year ago.

By Period:

Tampa is -7 in the 1st, -2 in the 2nd (4th most 2nd period goals allowed with 49), +2 in the 3rd.

Best Answer:

When a team is struggling on defense, what’s the root cause? It’s usually is due to 2 things: miscommunication and positioning (or lack of it) on defense. Both of these issues can be fixed with coaching from Jon Cooper and his staff.

Next: Inconsistency In Overtime Continue To Plague Anaheim

Series History:

This is only the 31st meeting all-time between these 2 teams.

• The Ducks have a slim 15-14-1 edge in the series.
• Anaheim has an 8-6-1 edge All-Time in Anaheim.
• Tampa has owned 6 of the last 7 meetings, outscoring the Ducks 24-9, scoring 3.42 Goals/G while they are holding the Ducks to 1.28 Goals/G.