Ducks take in some R&R before latest closeout game
They return home after blowout loss at Edmonton and try to decompress.
After a Game 6 performance by the Ducks that was quickly gone to the dogs, Cam Fowler had an appropriate plan for an extra day off.
“I’m going to go home and play with my dog and get my mind off things for a little bit,” Fowler said. “The worst thing, I think, you can do is think about hockey all the time … there’s more to life than hockey. And then get mentally and physically refreshed, and come Wednesday, I expect us all to be ready to play.”
Rest was in order Monday, but the definition of “all” gained slight focus with a looming Game 7 on Wednesday that will decide the Ducks’ second-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.
Forwards Patrick Eaves and Logan Shaw are “highly questionable” to skate Tuesday, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said, because of lower-body injuries. Eaves has been out since Game 4 because of an apparent foot injury and Shaw left Game 5 during overtime after he doubled over in pain following a shot attempt.
Another forward, Ondrej Kase, is considered questionable because of a lowerbody injury since he took a cross check from Milan Lucic in Game 4.
Kase and defenseman Kevin Bieksa were “options” before Game 6, according to Carlyle, though, and the addition of Bieksa would give the Ducks a player with extensive playoff fortitude, having played in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final with the Vancouver Canucks and in four previous Game 7s.
“Kevin’s a veteran guy and anytime you can add veteran leadership into this situation … those are all strengths, and we think that those are things that can help our group prepare for the task at hand,” Carlyle said.
The Ducks were fortunate not to have lost more bodies in Sunday’s Game 6. Andrew Cogliano took an elbow to the face and Corey Perry was briefly hobbled.
Already short-handed, the Ducks scratched Jared Boll and played defenseman Korbinian Holzer at forward. Nic Kerdiles finished the game, his third in the NHL, on a line with Ryan Getzlaf and Perry.
The extra day will heal those bumps and bruises and put distance on another forgettable Game 6 in Ducks history, a 7-1 Edmonton win. Carlyle said the Ducks were emotionally drained from their NHL-record three-goal comeback win in Game 5, and lacked energy and focus from every player.
Carlyle echoed Fowler that the best thing was to step away for a day and not look back at a terrible transition game that gave Edmonton chance after chance.
“That’s our message,” said Carlyle, whose team didn’t practice Monday but will be back on the ice Tuesday. “Just turn the page. I spoke earlier to refreshing the body and refreshing the mind, and we’ll be back at practice to get better and prepare ourselves for Wednesday.”
A day off spared players more questions about being dogged by Game 7 losses at home the last four seasons. Although some are new to this, Getzlaf, Perry, Fowler, Cogliano, Ryan Kesler, Hampus Lindholm, Jakob Silfverberg and Sami Vatanen have a combined record of 3-31 in Game 7s.
“I don’t think it should carry over at all,” Fowler said. “Every year a team has a new identity. It’s a great opportunity for us and I don’t think we should be thinking about the past at all.”
The Oilers took a caveat emptor approach about the Ducks’ past.
“We’ve read it,” forward Mark Letestu said. “It’s tough not to read, their history. They’ve played different teams. That’s a different team over there. We’re worried about us. They’re a mature group. They’re going to come back from this.”
Edmonton didn’t have injured defensemen Oscar Klefbom and Andrej Sekera on Sunday. Coach Todd McLellan told reporters he expects Klefbom to play Wednesday, but earlier Sekera was reportedly ruled out.