If it wasn't for that sellout crowd, you'd have thought the Anaheim Ducks' regular season home finale was, in fact, the final game of the season. Based on the final score, a 4-0 loss at the hands of the already-eliminated Dallas Stars, the Ducks didn't look like a playoff team.
Wednesday night's performance easily was one of Anaheim's most underwhelming of the season. After a week of the team preaching about creating good habits and momentum for the playoffs, they came out with two dismal efforts in their last two tries. This latest one was somewhat embarrassing: It was only the fourth time the Ducks have been shut out all season and it was the largest margin of defeat in a shutout as well.
On Fan Appreciation Night, the fans made an early exit from the Honda Center. Those who remained booed the Pacific Division champs off the ice.
"It didn't seem like we had any energy or life," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I wish I had an answer to why we were that bad after five days rest."
With a chance to clinch the top spot in the Western Conference, the Ducks came out flat right from the puck drop. That nasty habit of poor second period play resurfaced as the Stars scored three times in the middle period and again in the third.
Clayton Stoner took the blame for the first goal. He turned over the puck at the blue line, creating a chance that Stars center Vernon Fiddler finished off. With a loaded defenseman group, Stoner said he considered his play Wednesday night to be somewhat of a playoff audition. If that was the case, he may find himself playing the role of understudy.
"It was definitely not what we wanted or what I wanted tonight," Stoner said. "I take responsibility for that first goal. When you give up a tough goal like that on a turnover, sometimes it's not the start you want. Sometimes it's tough to rebound from, so I'll take responsibility from that."
Stoner can fall on the sword for the first goal, but the second, third and fourth can be attributed to a non-existent energy level.
"Some nights you have to get yourself going," winger Matt Beleskey said. "You have to come to work, it's our job. We have to be better and play our game. We have to perform better than we did tonight, that's for sure. We just weren't there tonight."
Yet again, it was a struggle without captain Ryan Getzlaf. Given the results without him, Boudreau said he likely will be back for the final game of the season in Arizona, but he wishes that weren't the case. Getzlaf has played hurt the last two postseasons and in the last two postseasons, the Ducks have made early exits.
"We rested him because in the last two playoffs, he's played hurt," Boudreau said. "He's our catalyst and our main guy and everything else. We want to make sure he's 100 percent when he goes into the playoffs."
With the division wrapped up, it seems as though the Ducks don't have much to play for. But that's not the case, they insist. They wanted to be the top seed in the Western Conference and had an even greater desire and need for momentum going into next week.
With 107 points, they still have a good chance to clinch that top seed, only needing a win over the Coyotes on Saturday in any fashion. But as we saw Wednesday, no win is guaranteed.
This wasn't their intention, but the Ducks appear to be coasting towards the finish line instead of racing through it to their next destination.
"That's a bad game for our fans, but you have to forget about it and move on," Beleskey said. "Rather have it now than in a week."
