Anaheim Ducks: Three Keys to Beating the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Anaheim Ducks opponent tonight is John Gibson’s hometown Pittsburgh Penguins, will the Ducks break their franchise record 9 game losing streak or will it reach double digits?

Can things get any worse for this team? Currently, a 9 game losing streak, including their most recent game losing to the team most consider the worst team in the league, the Ottawa Senators. Fans appear to be at a breaking point and you’d be forgiven for having a fairly cynical outlook on this team at this point in the season. But can the Anaheim Ducks find the key to the victory castle or will they remain wading in the moat?

The Penguins currently sit 2nd in the Metropolitan division with a respectable 24-13-6 record, they’re starting a 5 game Western road trip tonight. The Pens, being one of the hottest teams in the entirety of the league will look to continue the recent momentum that has them 9-1 in their last 10.

Meanwhile, the Ducks last victory was before Christmas, coincidentally it was against the very same Penguins team, beating the Penguins 4-2 in Pittsburgh, due in large part to the strong performances by Ryan Getzlaf and Adam Henrique. Since that game the Ducks are 0-6-3 and the Penguins are 9-1 so it was very clearly a turning point in the season for both clubs. One obviously fairing better than the other.

Game 45: Anaheim Ducks vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Season Record: 19-17-8

Location: Honda Center — Anaheim, California

Time: 7:00 pm PST

TV: Prime Ticket

Radio: AM 830

Anaheim Ducks Injuries: Ryan Miller (Sprained MCL), Corey Perry (Knee), Patrick Eaves (Broken Rib/Back Spasms)

Pittsburgh Penguins Injuries: Zach Ashton-Reese (Broken Hand) Patric Hornqvist (Concussion) Justin Schultz (Fractured Leg)

Three Keys to Victory

While it seems like forever since the Ducks last won, each game is a new day, and as it’s become abundantly clear that the Ducks will have to figure out on their own how to fix this sinking ship, these three keys should help get a victory and maybe slow the rising water.

Suppress Shots: The Ducks defense is basically Swiss cheese at this point, they’re fully healthy for the second time (the first being last game) in a long time, and it’s time for the defense to do their jobs and take some of the pressure off of John Gibson. The Ducks as a team have allowed 1517 shots good enough for 4th most shots allowed in the league, and it’s not like they’re getting a lot of shots to off-set things. The Ducks have the second worst shot differential in the league at an embarrassing -284. Gibson is having a historically good season, but it’s not fair to him to make him carry the team on his back every single game and it starts with the defense. The Ducks defense needs to focus on clearing out the front of the net and pressuring the puck carrier to prevent them from finding open space. Easier said than done against a team that employs Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but it is certainly something that needs to happen if the Ducks plan on winning ever again.

Rakell’s Resurgence: Rickard Rakell is back for his second game following an injury, to this point in the season he has a respectable 20 points through 31 games, but for a team severely devoid of goal scorers, the Ducks are going to need more than the 5 goals he’s given them so far. Rakell has a great shot and is sneaky when it comes to finding a shooting lane. A huge part of the Ducks game is going to revolve around Rakell and Ondrej Kase. Kase has been doing his part recently, Rakell doing his is going to be key to any success for this team and tonight would be a great time for that to start.

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• Anaheim Ducks might benefit tremendously by trading John Gibson
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Limit the Shutdown Line: Lets face facts, to this point in the season only one member of the Ducks fabled “shutdown” line who’s been a positive addition to the team is Jakob Silfverberg. Ryan Kesler is a shell of himself, honestly looking like he could use a few games off to recoup (remember when Murray said he would take a game here and there as necessary?) Yeah, well, he’s played 41 games straight, and hasn’t scored a goal in 28 games, only recording a single assist over the same stretch and 2 assists over his last 37 games. That’s unacceptable for a player who’s supposed to be a key piece of this team. Do him a favor and sit him down a couple games and let him potentially channel the fire that helped him put up 4 points in his first 4 games.

Andrew Cogliano hasn’t been much better, putting up 9 points through 44 games this season, the biggest problem being that 4 of those game in the first month of the season, meaning that since November 1st Cogliano has put up 5 points total. The Ducks shut down line has done very little other than shutting down Anaheim’s chances at winning a game, it’s time to realize that these guys aren’t working anymore and stop trying to force them to succeed because of their high salary contracts.

This challenge is going to be much harder than beating the Senators, but if the Ducks want any hope of winning their first game of 2019, they’ll accomplish that by following the 3 keys listed above.