IRVINE, Calif. – After playing four games in six days on the East Coast, the Ducks have returned to Southern California for a six-game homestand.
With a 4-4-2 record through 10 games, it’s been a mixed bag of performances with the team struggling to generate offense at a consistent level. Goaltender Lukáš Dostál has been a big reason why the team even has four wins to their name in the early going.
Anaheim went 1-2-1 on their recent road trip and was outscored 8-11 in those four games. A more consistent offensive output could have seen them go 3-1-0 during the trip as they lost two of those games by one goal. Both losses also generated just one goal per game.
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“I thought we played two really good periods with the Rangers,” head coach Greg Cronin said. “The second and third period, I think we outshot them 25 to 12 and then I thought the Jersey game was one of the worst games we played along with Colorado.
“We looked weak and slow. I don’t know the answer to that. And then I thought the Islanders game was a decent game. Analytically, we didn’t do great in that game, but I thought we did a good job defensively. And then the Pittsburgh game, the first and third periods, we just got smoked. The second period was the even period.”
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“I think there were stretches where we played really well,” winger Frank Vatrano said. “Obviously, there were stretches where we defended a lot more than we wanted to. I think if you look at our record right now, it could be a lot better. I think we’re trying to create more offensively but also be sound defensively.
“I think it’s just paying the extra attention to detail in practice and knowing what we need to do to execute every night and everyone knowing their role. For us, I think there’s a positivity, there’s stuff that we can build on and there’s stuff that we can keep working on.”
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The Ducks have turned over in a couple of…