Best of the West versus the best of the East.   Both the Ducks and Penguins showed why they are on the top of their conference and both are pretty evenly matched. 

Even though the Ducks lost in the sixth round of the shootout (for the second game in a row),  it could have gone either way in the 3-2 defeat.  

Both teams came out of the gate strong, despite Pittsburgh having played the night before in San Jose.  Anaheim definitely was the stronger team in the first period, outshooting Pittsburgh 12-3, but came out of the period tied 1-1. 

Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves in the game and was the reason the Penguins got one point, much less two.

"It was huge," said Sidney Crosby.  "The first two periods weren’t great. Definitely in those first two, he held us in it. In the third, I thought we went after it more. But he really had to make some saves, pretty consistently, for the first two periods to keep us in it and allow us to get ourselves back in the game."

Corey Perry was able to get two by Fleury.  The first one came at 3:54 of the first period, after the Ducks had poured it on and kept coming in waves at the Penguins end.    The second one came at 1:10 of the third period.   Ryan Getzlaf assisted on both of the shots that were highlight reel goals. 

The Penguins would not quit and with the talent they have, you knew it would be a matter of time before they got on the scoreboard. 

Deryk Engelland tied up the game in the first period at 7:47 and Evgeni Malkin had a power play goal at 8:57 of the third period to tie up the game again.

The game remained tied and went into overtime, which was no less exciting and interesting than the first three periods of the game.

A sure sign of depth and talent was obvious in the shootout.   Crosby scored, as did Perry in the extra round.  Former Duck Chris Kunitz also got one in behind Jonas Hiller, but Teemu Selanne evened things up again.  Finally Brandon Sutter got one in the sixth round and Getzlaf could not keep things going. 

Two points Penguins.  One point Ducks.  Pretty satisfied fans in the sold out, standing room only building.

"I thought we played a great game," said coach Bruce Boudreau. "Take away their power play, and I think they had 10 or 11 shots, which is great. We followed our game plan to a tee. We just lost in a shootout."

Although it is rarely the two top teams who face each other in the Stanley Cup Finals, this one would be an amazing match up if it gets that far.

"That’s a very good team over there," said former Penguin Ben Lovejoy. "I thought both teams played really good hockey. They wanted to get into a transition game, and we wanted to play a physical game down low. It went in waves where they carried the play and we carried the play."

The Ducks now finish up their five game homestand against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night.  It will be the first time former coach Randy Carlyle comes back to Anaheim. 

The last time the Montreal Canadiens and the Ducks got together, Montreal won handily.   The second meeting, this time in Anaheim, also ended in the Canadiens favor, but the 4-3 shutout loss at least yielded a point for the Ducks.

Both teams battled hard in the seesaw game and things could have gone either way.  The six round shootout could have ended sooner were it not for a couple of inches.  

Kyle Palmieri had his shootout attempt hit one post, bounce off the other one and rookie goaltender Dustin Tokarski swept it out of the crease before it crossed completely over the line.  Key word is completely.

It went to Toronto for a long and protracted review, with the overhead camera seeming to provide the best view.  It danced precariously along the line, but never fully went past it.

"I saw it go off the post and head towards the net, but by the time it was bouncing off, I didn’t see it hit the other post," said Palmieri. "I looked back and the ref called a goal, but when they went to review it, it didn’t go in. There’s not much you can do about it."

"That’s the difference between winning and losing," said coach Bruce Boudreau.

Finally it was Andrei Markov's goal that was the eventual game winner, zipping past Jonas Hiller, who made 28 saves.

Montreal scored the first two goals of the game and seemed to be heading to another blowout of the Ducks, but Anaheim isn't the number one team in the NHL for naught.

Goals from Brian Gionta at 8:23 and Max Pacioretty at 12:36 gave Anaheim that uh oh feeling. 

"We came out a little slow and had to start catching up," said Hiller. "We weren’t focused enough starting from me all the way up front. Pucks were getting away from us, and we weren’t strong enough on the puck. We had a really good second period, fought all the way back. The third period was a pretty even game on both sides."

The second period was definitely better than the first and Anaheim rebounded and finally figured out Tokarski, who got the surprise nod in net for Montreal to make his debut.  Tokarski had been called up due to the injury to Carey Price and probably did not expect to see much time in net beyond practices.

"He was outstanding," praised his coach, Michel Therrien.  "Good for him. He made some key saves at the right time."

Saves he could not make was Tim Jackman tipping in Luca Sbisa's shot at 7:08 of the middle frame.   Jackman had two thirds of a Gordie Howe hat trick by adding a fight with George Parros, who came back to Anaheim for the first time since leaving as a free agent in 2012.  

Francois Beauchemin also got his third of the year at 9:07, the only power play the Ducks managed to take advantage of in six opportunities.  Add another power play goal and that could be the difference maker.

The Ducks took the lead for the first time at 18:11 with a goal from Daniel Winnik.   Brendan Gallagher tied things up again with :36 seconds left in the period, putting both teams on even footing in the final 20 minutes.

Nothing changed in the final period or in overtime, thus going to the shootout.

"We got the point," Palmieri said, "but it’s disappointing we didn’t get the second point."

The Ducks are looking for two points on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are dominating the Eastern Conference.   It should be another good battle between two Stanley Cup contenders, but if they want to win, they need to start well and figure out how to convert on the power play.  If they do that, they have a good chance.

In other notes:  Teemu Selanne was out ill for the game, so the Ducks dressed seven defensemen.  Rickard Rakell was called up from Norfolk on Thursday.

The trade deadline is not until Wednesday at noon Pacific time, but the Ducks decided not to wait around until the last minute to make some moves.

On Tuesday, GM Bob Murray traded goaltender, Viktor Fasth, to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a fifth-round selection in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and a third-round selection in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Fasth, 31, only appeared in five games this season due to injuries.   He finally had surgery on December 23 to repair a hole in his abdominal wall.  Fasth had recuperated and got back to game shape, including a conditioning stint in Norfolk, and was ready to be activated off the IR list.

That would have left a glut of goaltenders, as Frederik Andersen has stepped up notably in Fasth's absence.   (And John Gibson is also waiting in the wings for a net.)

"Viktor is a class act and a great guy," said Murray.  "He battled to get back. This year didn’t go the way I expected it to go.  You’ve watched Freddie Andersen play, so I don’t need to say anything else. That had to be cleaned up for the sake of the hockey team. Too many people around, too much uncertainty. I felt it had to be done. Viktor is going to be a No. 1 in Edmonton."

The Ducks also traded left wing Dustin Penner to the Washington Capitals for a fourth-round draft pick.

Penner, 31, was no his second stint in Anaheim and had 13 goals and 32 points.  His plus/minus was +22.  However, Penner also found himself a healthy scratch for Anaheim on numerous nights.

"Depth is great, but it was getting in the way," Murray commented.  "The opportunity came along.  It’s unfortunate for Dustin. He worked hard and played hard here. He got his weight down. I wish him nothing but the best, but it was the one that worked right now. I had a couple teams interested and he’s getting a great opportunity. I’m pretty sure I know what he’s going to get to play with over there. I hope he’s ready to go, and I hope he concentrates and gets the job done."

Read between the lines - "I hope he concentrates and gets the job done" can be interpreted as he did not concentrate and get the job done in Anaheim.    A common complaint in Edmonton and Los Angeles when Penner played there as well. 

There are plenty of other players who seemed to have stepped up above and beyond this year that will make Penner's loss barely noticeable at all.

The pick received from the Capitals was turned around and sent to the Dallas Stars in exchange for defenseman Stephane Robidas.

Robidas, 37, had a badly broken leg on November 29, 2013, and he is still on IR.  He began to skate and rehab in the middle of January.

"If I could get a right-handed shooting defenseman, a sort of shutdown-type of guy who plays hard, we were going to try to accomplish that," said Murray.  "That was one of our needs. Getting Stephane, who I’ve always liked for how hard he competes, how hard he plays, can do more than shut down. He actually played on the second power play at times. It was an opportunity, so we took it. He’s coming in on Thursday and he’s happy.  We’re going to make sure he’s ready. We’ve got good depth on defense now, so when he’s ready to play, he’s going to play."

Will the Ducks keep trading or is this it for Anaheim?

"There’s never a final move," Murray said noncommitally.  "You’re always trying to make your hockey team better. This makes our team more difficult to play against. Just go ask our forwards. They didn’t enjoy playing against (Robidas)."

The real answer will be found by noon tomorrow.  Stay tuned.  It's never dull at the deadline.

It started off as an Oscar winning performance by the Ducks against the Carolina Hurricanes, but they the end, they had slipped off the podium.

The 5-3 victory did not seem nearly as dominant as it was when the score was 5-0 against a team who had played (and lost) the day before to the Kings.   Lesson for the Ducks?  Don't take your foot off the brake.

The Hurricanes, who have lost four games in six days, including a make up game in Buffalo just two days after the Olympics ended, looked tired.  Anaheim took advantage.

Corey Perry put the Ducks on the board at 6:39 then earned an assist on Francois Beauchemin's goal at 13:38.  Perry made it 3-0 at 16:26 of the first period, and you almost had to feel sorry for Cam Ward, who made 29 saves for Carolina.

"That was as well as we’ve played in the last little while," said Ryan Getzlaf about the strong first period.  "We were buzzing all over the place. Our defense was moving the puck up so quickly and everything was transitioning back the other way."

The Ducks did not let off the gas pedal in the second period, with Andrew Cogliano taking advantage of a turnover and getting his third short handed goal of the year at 3:31.  

Jakob Silfverberg,  who was playing center due to the injury to Mathieu Perreault in the last game, made it 5-0 at 8:47.   Hooters had three weeks to restock their chicken wings.  Time to be giving them out again.

Andrej Sekera denied Andersen the shutout at 15:20 of the middle frame, giving Carolina a little life.

"It was a beautiful individual effort," praised Canes coach Kirk Muller.  "I think that showed a group of guys that did not want to quit. Everyone saw that as nice as it was, it was pure effort and hard work, and he got a goal. That is the stuff that we have to build on. No one quitting, battling through this, put pieces together and get a little break, get one win and who knows? Then we can get on a nice little roll the other way."

While the Canes started to gain momentum, the Ducks seemed to be cruising and not continuing to push.  And for a team that only allowed 18 shots on goal in the prior game, Carolina managed to get 52 to the net.  Frederik Andersen did a formidable job holding the fort, especially in the third when Carolina had half their shot total.

"He was fabulous tonight," said coach Bruce Boudreau. "He did what he had to do, and he kept the team in the game. He won the game for us."

Patrick Dwyer made it 5-2 at 11:29 with Alexander Semin pulling Carolina within two goals at 18:55.  

The Ducks (or more specifically, Andersen) were able to hang on for the win, their third in a row.   Through 62 games, the Ducks are now 43-14-5 with 91 points. 

"We’re just building now," said Getzlaf. "Last game, we didn’t execute that well, but we played well. It was nice to see us rebound like that and come out in this first period. We just need to keep building and getting better along the way."

The Ducks have three more games at home before heading out on the road, including Montreal on Wednesday and Pittsburgh on Friday.

 

The Ducks got back into action after the Olympic break, the last team to do so.  It had been nearly three weeks, and seemed like forever.  The standing room only crowd was clearly happy to see Ducks hockey again and they were not disappointed.

While it wasn't a pretty game, #1 Anaheim still got the 1-0 shut out against the #2 St. Louis Blues. Jonas Hiller, who was outstanding in net for Switzerland, continued his trend of not allowing goals.   He made 18 saves for a league leading fifth shutout.  The pipes behind him made a couple of saves as well.

Both teams were so busy hitting everything that moved (or didn't move), they were too busy to get shots on goal.  The Blues had 18 and the Ducks had 19.   Hits?  The Blues had 25 and the Ducks had 35.  

"That was some big men hitting each other," said coach Bruce Boudreau, who got his 300th win.  "I thought it was a playoff game, not as artistically pretty as some games.  Definitely a man's game."

And when everything was over, Anaheim was the last man standing.

Andrew Cogliano was the beneficiary of a Blues turnover and got the only goal behind back up goaltender Brian Elliott at 3:38 of the first period.

Elliott got the nod in net at the last minute because earlier in the day the Blues traded away Jaroslav Halak, who was supposed to start, for Ryan Miller.  Fortunately for Anaheim, Miller would not join his new team until Sunday.

Left without a back up goaltender, the Blues signed the Ducks part-time locker room attendant, Jeff Tyni, to a contract.  Tyni played on Cal State Fullerton's hockey team and probably never imagined this sort of thing happening to him.

Despite all of the minor distraction of the big trade, the Blues were ready to play.  Their best chance to tie up the game came late in the second period.  With less than a minute left, Ryan Reaves hit the goal post on one side, then had to watch it skim across the line to hit the other post and then out.  Never once going into the goal.

"I always say I'm in good position if it hits the post," said Hiller.

Certainly the post was in the right position.

"We knew we had a great hockey club coming in here," said Hiller. "For being the first game in 20 days, I thought we did a really good job. Everybody really wanted to win tonight. Everybody was sacrificing their bodies tonight. The guys in front of me had more blocked shots than I had saves."

For those of you who are counting, 27 blocked shots to Hiller's 18 saves.

"It was a good first game for us in terms of the competition," said Cogliano. "It was really high-paced. It’s good to jump into a game like that for the first one."

The Ducks remain on top with a 42-14-5 record and for their second post-Olympic effort they will  take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.  The Canes will be entering the second of back to back games, having played the Kings on Saturday.

In other notes:  Mark Fistric and Nick Bonino returned from injuries suffered before the break.  Mathieu Perreault was the sole victim of the hard hitting game, leaving the game early in the third period with what appeared to be an arm injury.  

The Winter Olympics are over and Canada is still on top of hockey.   Canada defeated Sweden in the gold medal game, 3-0, on Sunday afternoon (or the wee early hours of the morning in North America).

Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry get to bring home their second Olympic gold medal.  Jakob Silfverberg gets to bring home.....silver.  Seems appropriate.

In the bronze medal game Finland handily defeated the US team 5-0 on Saturday.  That meant Teemu Selanne, the world's oldest little kid, added one more medal to his collection.  The 43 year old was playing in his 6th Olympic games and owns three bronze medals and one silver from 2006.  

With 24 goals and 43 points, Selanne has the most points scored in the Olympics and is the oldest person to score an Olympic hockey goal.   He had two goals in the bronze medal game, including the game winner.    He also earned the tournament MVP, and rightly so.

Cam Fowler was on the losing end of a medal on team USA.  Goaltender Jonas Hiller stood strong for the Swiss team, but his team was eliminated before the quarterfinals.    If Switzerland could have managed to score a few more goals, Hiller might have had a better chance at a medal. 

So now the hockey players come home, deal with jet lag and get back to the business of playing hockey. 

While he might have another bronze medal, Selanne is looking for one more silver trophy in the Stanley Cup as he finishes out his career.  You can't help but root for the guy to do it.

After losing three games in a row, stumbling to the Olympic break, the Ducks finished on a strong note with a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators.  It was not pretty, but there are not extra points for beauty.  The Ducks will now spend the next two weeks still on top of the NHL with a 41-14-5 record and a 87 points. 

"I think it was a real big win," said coach Bruce Boudreau.  "We didn't want to spend the next 19 days with you guys telling us we lost four in a row.  That, and it puts a little distance between us and San Jose again."

The Ducks are seven points ahead of the Sharks in the Pacific Division.

Most important for Anaheim was to go into the break with a win so they would not spend the time off ruminating about what was wrong and having to wait that long to try and fix it.  Now they can just move forward.

Nashville came out hard and played hard the whole evening.  Fortunately Jonas Hiller, who is heading to Sochi to represent Switzerland, was on the top of his game, making 36 saves.

Hiller did not stop everything, including the first goal from Viktor Stalberg at 11:35 of the first period.   After that, the bounces, weird as they were, seemed to go in Anaheim's favor for a change.

"We knew they were going to be coming," said Hiller.  "I think they had a lot of shots. They almost throw everything at the net, which is sometimes easier as a goalie to kind of get into it. I think we're a little lucky on our first goal but we'll take it right now."

That lucky goal was credited to Ryan Getzlaf at 18:49 of the first to tie things up.  In reality, Roman Josi accidentally batted the puck in the net behind goaltender Carter Hutton.   (With a name like that, Hutton sounds like he should be an underwear model or actor, not a netminder).   

The Ducks took the lead in the second period with a power play goal from Corey Perry at 11:45.  The shot went off a Predators skate and in the net.   Lucky bounce #2.

"You work hard, you create your own bounces," said Perry.  "A garbage goal takes the monkey off your back."

Going into the third period the Ducks had something they had not had in a long time - a lead.

Nashville refused to yield and Mike Fisher tied the game at 1:05 with a power play goal.   The Ducks were equally tenacious and were rewarded for their efforts.

Emerson Etem, recalled from the AHL just a couple games ago, gave the Ducks back the lead at 4:51.  His stick got a piece of Hampus Lindholm's seeing eye shot.  Although Etem claimed to not have touched the puck, the NHL still credited him with the goal nonetheless. 

"Saw it go in," said Lindholm.  "A lot of fun."

Mathieu Perreault extended the Ducks lead at 8:04.  Daniel Winnik picked off the puck from the Predators and found Perreault unencumbered in front of the net.

Nashville coach Barry Trotz made a gutsy move by pulling Hutton early for the extra attacker, but was unable to get even one of the two goals needed to tie things up. 

An empty netter from Getzlaf with less than a minute remaining that went from the corner at one end to dead center of the empty net at the other end sealed the deal and the win for the Ducks.

"They came out really hard," said Etem. "They were backchecking and getting to loose pucks first. Once we turned that around, we were all right. It was a great win to enter the break."

Certainly better than the other option.

"Their big guys stepped up and scored goals," said Trotz. "Getzlaf and Perry are world-class forwards.  They're a good hockey team. They found a way to win."

Getzlaf and Perry are now headed to the world stage in Sochi to play for Canada.  They will be joined by five other Ducks - Cam Fowler (USA), Hiller (Switzerland), Teemu Selanne and Sami Vatanen (Finland), and Jakob Silfverberg (Sweden).  

For now, teammates will become competitors.  Let the games begin....

The losses keep coming for Anaheim, the latest being a 2-0 shutout by the Chicago Blackhawks who are now just one point away from Anaheim in the overall standings. 

Anaheim has now lost three in a row and ended up 1-4-0 on this five game homestand.  They have only one more game before the Olympic break, in Nashville on Saturday.

On the plus side, the Ducks put forth a stronger effort against the defending Stanley Cup champions.   It was a good first period, but they could not sustain the effort and they ran into another good goaltender in Corey Crawford, who made 29 saves to blank the Ducks.

The other problem was the power play.  Not only did the scoring go missing again for the second time in three games, the power play has vanished as well.  Get a couple of power play goals would help this team immensely.

"If we capitalize on those (power plays), it's a different game," said Corey Perry.

The Ducks had five power play goals.  One of them was a two man advantage.  Another was a four minute double minor for high sticking that left Patrick Maroon bloodied on the ice.

What did they yield?  Nothing.  Zip.  Nada. 

It did give the Blackhawks more confidence, though, after killing them off. 

"The five-on-three set the tone for the whole game," said Crawford.  "They try to get in your head.  You just laugh at 'em.  That was a big game.  The win is the most important thing. It is always nice to get a shutout but catching up to them at little bit."

Marian Hossa scored :39 seconds into the second period and goaltender Jonas Hiller kept the Ducks in the game.  Perhaps a bit more pressure to make saves, especially in light of the absence of scoring, but Hiller stood strong and did his job, making 23 saves.   His job is to stop them, not score them.

"You’re going to go through highs and lows scoring goals," said Perry.  "Right now we’re in a rough patch. We’ve scored one or two goals in the last three games. Especially at home, it doesn’t win hockey games. We had a good effort tonight, but the bounces just didn’t go our way."

By the time Jonathan Toews made it 2-0 at 17:29 of the third period, you knew the game was over.

"It was no moral victory, but we did have a much better effort," said defenseman Ben Lovejoy.  "We ran into a good team with a good goaltender, but we’re out here to win games. I think everybody in the room feels like that was better, but we want to win."

Next chance is Nashville and you don't want to head into the Olympic break on a four game losing streak.  Hopefully Anaheim can continue the efforts they made against Chicago and carry that over on Saturday evening.    And hopefully the Nashville starting goalie will be having an off night, so something can get in the net.   Hopefully.

Ruh roh!   Scooby Doo knows the Ducks are slipping after losing 4-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.  It was the second loss in a row for a team that hasn't lost very many this season.    With Chicago coming to town, you would hope they don't want it to be three in a row.

So what is up with this team that seemed unstoppable?

"We knew we were going to hit some patches here and there," said Ryan Getzlaf.  "It’s frustrating with our effort and our start of the game. We’re not ready to play. They came out and they played hard. Their goaltender played well early and we just didn’t respond. We didn’t keep playing the game."

The Ducks encountered very strong goaltending from Dan Ellis and the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.  Sergei Bobrovsky was equally strong in net for the Blue Jackets, making 34 saves.

Continuing to fall behind early is becoming a dangerous pattern.  Early in  the season, the Ducks seemed capable of overcoming a deficit.  Other teams have figured out how to defend against them and keep them from staging a comeback, but Anaheim has not adjusted.  And frankly, the falling behind thing just looks plain lazy at this point.

"We just got outworked," was coach Bruce Boudreau's blunt assessment.  "We lost all the one-on-one battles. We don’t have the sense of urgency. It’s not there. If you want to win in this league, it has to be there every night. Every team you play is hungry for points."

Sure, there is a cushion, but that cushion is rapidly evaporating.  Chicago is just three points behind Anaheim in the overall standings.  There isn't that much room to sit back and relax for a few games.

Ryan Johansen scored first for the Columbus at 11:10 of the first period.  That was followed by a power play goal from at 16:43 of the second period.  Former Duck, James Wisniewski, shot the puck and it deflected off of RJ Umberger's skate and into the net behind Frederik Andersen.

The Ducks finally got on the board in the third period with a goal from Mathieu Perreault at 5:45.  That gave the Ducks and fans in the Honda Center a bit of life as it was now 2-1 and plenty of time to tie up the game.

Columbus had other thoughts.

Nick Foligno scored twice.  First at 8:48, effectively sucking away momentum from Anaheim.  Then on the power play at 13:07.  Now the mountain got steeper.

"I have to be better seeing some of those chances," said Andersen, who made 29 saves.  "It doesn’t matter how hard they come. I have to be better. It’s tough to win when you let in four goals. We weren’t ready."

A goal from Getzlaf at 16:41 made it 4-2, but that was all the Ducks could manage as the Blue Jackets shut them down the rest of the way. .

"It’s all about us," said Perreault. "We haven’t had a lot of emotion lately. We’re just going through the motions. We’ve been winning so much that we kind of got into a lull right now. We have to find a way to get out of it."

The Ducks are now 1-3-0 on this current homestand.  They have one more game against Chicago at home on Wednesday and a final game before the Olympic break against the Nashville Predators.

"It’s probably great that Chicago is coming in," said Boudreau. "It’s a team that if we don’t play up to our best level, we’re going to get our butts kicked. It’s never good to see Chicago because they’re a great team, but it’s maybe something we need."

You don't want to go into the Olympic break slumping. 

"We’re at the point of the year where you have the break coming up, and you’re trying to focus on hockey while everyone else wants you to focus on everything around it," Getzlaf said. "We have to get our mindset right for these next two games and finish this right."

Finishing begins with good starts.  Time to go for it.

February did not start off well for the Ducks.   Not only did they lose to the Dallas Stars at home, only their third loss at the Honda Center this season, they were shut out 2-0. 

When is the last time the Ducks were shut out in a game?   March 27, 2013.   Nearly a year ago.  

At least the Ducks did not look as lackluster as they did in their loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.  Their main failing was being unable to solve former goaltender Dan Ellis, who made 26 saves.

"It’s always fun to come back here," said Ellis.  "I loved my time here. Still the best place I’ve ever played and lived in but it was good to get those two points for us tonight."

Ellis also earned two points for Dallas the last time the two teams met this season.  Thankfully, the Ducks won't have to meet them again in the regular season, now that Dallas is in a different division.

"He did a nice job against them last time we played them," said Dallas coach Lindy Ruff.  "From the looks of things, we may have to play him more. He gave us a rock-solid game. We only had a couple big breakdowns and he was there for us."

Jonas Hiller was minding the net at the other end and did not do a bad job, only allowing Trevor Daley's goal at 5:03 of the second period.  

"I don’t think we played really good the first two periods," said Hiller, who made 25 saves.  "It just didn’t seem to work out. We had some chances in the third, but Ellis played pretty well. We weren’t able to find the back of the net."

Sending Hiller to the bench for the extra attacker still did not yield a goal for the Ducks.  Instead, Jamie Benn sealed the deal with only :29 seconds left to go.

Anaheim, who still leads the NHL with a 40-12-5 record, has been faltering a bit of late.

"It seems like one game we play well, then the next game it seems like we’ve lost everything again," observed Hiller.  "Right now it doesn’t feel like we have that consistency where every day we come in and want to go out and give 100%. We wait and see what’s going to happen, then start getting into the game. Sure, it’s worked for us earlier, but at some point you can’t always think you’re going to come back in the third and win the game."

The Ducks, who are only 4-4 in their past eight games, need to get it together.  Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets might be a good time to start.

"When things aren't going your way, you might lose confidence," Hiller said.  "We need to get another streak going."

In other notes:  The Ducks will have to get a streak going with Nick Bonino, who was put on IR after suffering an upper body injury on Thursday night against Philadelphia.   Dave Steckel was called up in his absence.

Defenseman Mark Fistric left the game against the Stars with a lower body injury and did not return.  He is listed as day to day.  Nonetheless, Sami Vatanen was recalled from Norfolk, which indicates it could be longer than a game.