Updates from Today's Practice

First off, Todd Marchant looks like he’s fine and should be available to play Wednesday night against the Wild. Marchant was knocked down and slid hard into the boards at Madison Square Garden before having to be helped off the ice. He did not return to that game and said he is still feeling sore on his left side, but still participated in the practice and should take his normal spot at center on the third/fourth line Wednesday.

The team went over two things at today’s practice: quick starts and penalty killing. Both have been huge problems for the Ducks in the early going and Coach Randy Carlyle isn’t going to wait around to try and fix them. The Ducks have still not scored a goal in the first period, and that is a trend that carried over from seven of eight preseason games as well.

Meanwhile, the Ducks’ penalty kill hasn’t been atrocious but they are still losing games because of it. A success rate of 72.4% is not enough to be successful and the coaching staff intends to make this a focus going forward. Of the 16 teams that made the playoffs last season, the Ducks had the worst penalty killing percentage.

Notes:

– The Ducks currently sit last in the Pacific Division. The Kings are off to a surprising start and rank first in the division and second in the conference through 5 games.

– The Minnesota Wild, who the Ducks will play tomorrow night at Honda Center, are in last place in the Western Conference. Their only two points came in an overtime victory against the Ducks last week.

– The Ducks have scored a total of 13 goals and given up 14 goals, a disturbing fact when taking into account they had a 6-1 victory against Boston.