The Anaheim Ducks established the Honda Center as one of the tougher places in the NHL to play last season, but that hasn't exactly been the case in recent weeks.
The start of their current home stand was a little chaotic with goalies coming in and out and Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry both out sick, but two games into it, they've come away with only two points and have now lost three in a row on home ice.
Give credit where credit is due. The Ducks haven't exactly made it easy for opposing teams to win. The Islanders and Coyotes both needed overtime, with the latter going into a shootout. It appears as though the Ducks are pressing hard to score goals right now.
"We had so many grade-A chances and you've got to score those," Ducks head coach Bruce Boudeau said. "And that's what happens when you're a team that's basically averaging two goals a game for the last five or six games. Guys are squeezing the sticks tight and the ones that usually go in are not going in."
Since the slugfest against the San Jose Sharks back on Oct. 26, the Ducks, typically a high-powered offensive team, are averaging only 1.5 goals per game. Call it puck luck, call it odd bounces, but whatever you call it, it's not adding up to much.
"I can see plays that normally guys would be making that would normally go in not going in, guys missing pucks," Boudreau said. "Kesler is a prime example: A 20-plus goal scorer who is getting pucks in the slot bouncing off of his stick and everything because he wants to score so badly. (Andrew) Cogliano, same way, (Jakob) Silfverberg, (Devante) Smith-Pelly had some really good looks today and didn't convert. They all need a goal. Once they get a goal, they'll start going in for us."
Chances have been had. Sami Vatanen, all of 180 pounds soaking wet, put all 180 pounds behind a shot from the slot in overtime but his stick snapped. Cogliano missed just wide from a similar place in the third period and slid numerous pucks out to a waiting Ryan Kesler who was thwarted each time.
And that was just in Friday's shootout loss. This has been story since that dismal Sharks game.
"I thought we played pretty good, but it comes down to missed opportunities on our end," Cogliano said. "I can't feel sorry for myself, but it sucks. There was opportunities for me around the net and I had some good chances and made some nice plays. But on my end, I've got to bear down and put those opportunities in."
The drought isn't coming at an opportune time for the league leaders. Sunday's game is yet another Pacific Division game but it's also the first time Kesler, who was traded to the Ducks in the offseason, will face his old Vancouver team.
Just one goal -- whether it's a hard slapshot or a bounce between someone's legs -- one goal is all it takes to snap them out of it.
"I think it got away from us for six minutes," Kesler said. "We were the better team tonight, we deserved better. It's a shootout loss. We would have won that game in overtime if we had capitalized."
