Back-to-back. New York, New York. And those Ls have started piling up early for the Anaheim Ducks.

Coming off of a short, yet winless week 3 of the 2026-27 season, the Anaheim faithful had to have hope that an East Coast road trip could provide the Ducks with an opportunity to get back on track and in the win column. But after back-to-back games against the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders, the Ducks are still searching for the first win of their East Coast swing and have now lost 4 games in row, plummeting them all the way down to 12th place in Western Conference. And it's been an ugly affair so far, with only a few glimpses of positivity sandwiched between poor play and uninspiring effort.

Burn the tape

The Ducks were outskated and outclassed by the Rangers on Monday night, as the Blueshirts cruised to an easy 5-2 win. From the drop of the puck to the end of the game, the Ducks appeared to be skating at half the speed of the Rangers, and the final score was reflective of Anaheim's lackluster effort. The Rangers had 7 different skaters around or above 70 percent expected goals at five on five. The Ducks, on the other hand, had one; Tristan Luneau. Even more reflective of how bad Anaheim's effort against the Rangers was, Tim Washe led all Ducks skaters with 0.71 expected goals in all situations. Not Leo Carlsson. Not Beckett Sennecke. Not Cutter Gauthier. Ville Husso was on par with his expected goals against (4.466) versus the actual goals against (5), but the loss was not his to bear. Adverse travel conditions or not, the Ducks' play was pathetic.

The Q blender

Tuesday night against the Islanders was a chance at redemption, but the Joel Quenneville line blender was working overtime, as both Nikita Klepov and Nick Jensen were benched, combined with Judd Caulfield returning home for the birth of his child. Drew Helleson, Nikita Nesterenko, and Sam Colangelo were inserted into the lineup and despite the funky configurations, Quenneville seemed to have been in favor of spreading out his offensive weapons, instead of loading up on the top line. However valid that thought process may have been though, the Islanders led for the entire game. The Ducks only managed to close the gap on the scoreboard with an Alex Killorn goal in late in the third period, as Lukas Dostal was pulled for the extra attacker.

What's wrong?

Anaheim's big guns have gone quiet. Leo Calrsson picked up 2 points in both losses but only averaged 17:57 of ice time and registered a season low in the process. Beckett Sennecke has been the most noticeable skater for the Ducks for the past two games and has had the most ice time of any of their forwards but has not picked up any points either. While he has notably ironed out a lot of the flashy miscues from last season, and with the Ducks struggling on the offensive side lately, Sennecke probably tried a little too hard to make a play...

Even though he was briefly out of the lineup with an injury, Cutter Gauthier's return has not boosted the Ducks offense either, as the noted sniper was also held off the scoresheet in the consecutive losses.

What's next?

Can we get some consistency please? The lineup blender is not working. Load up the big three of Carlsson, Gauthier, and Sennecke. Get some points of the board. A date with the New Jersey Devils is on the docket for Thrusday night and a win would be a welcome reprieve.

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