Thu. picks: Ducks' struggles continue at Blues
Welcome to the NHL Daily Picks where hockey writers Adam Gretz and Chris Peters make their selections for all of the day’s games.
Anaheim Ducks at St. Louis Blues, 8 p.m. ET
On Tuesday night in Dallas the Anaheim Ducks finally had a little bit of an offensive breakthrough.
After being held to just six goals through their first eight games of the season (one of the worst totals in league history, and the worst since 1931), a stretch that included five shutouts and only one game (their only win) with more than one goal, they came out in the first period against the Stars with three goals during a six-minute stretch.
Things finally seemed to be going their way. All they needed to do was avoid a complete meltdown over the next 40 minutes and they could get back in the win column and maybe start to turn things around.
They did not do that.
Instead, they were outshot 28-11 over the second and third periods, gave up four consecutive goals and ended up losing in regulation to fall to 1-6-2 on the season. Things aren’t getting any easier with games against St. Louis and Nashville coming up Thursday and Sunday.
Even though the Blues are a banged up team right now, playing without Patrik Berglund, Paul Stastny and Jaden Schwartz due to injury, they are still playing pretty decent hockey this season with a 6-2-1 record while allowing the third fewest shots per game. That’s a rough matchup for a Ducks team that can’t score right now and is playing without its best playmaker, Ryan Getzlaf, as he recovers from an appendectomy on Wednesday. Plus, even though they have a handful of top guys out, the Blues still have a pretty dangerous team offensively with four players with at least seven points already, including one of the best players in hockey in Vladimir Tarasenko who would seem to be on the verge of a big game.
Tarasenko is pointless in each of his past three games (something that does not happen very often) but he has 16 shots on goal during that stretch. Eventually some of those shots are going to start finding the back of the net again.
The Ducks’ early season performance is really one of the most shocking in the NHL this season because this team should not only be pretty good, but also one of the best in the league. They were just one game away from the Stanley Cup Final a year ago, they have top-line talent and a good supporting cast around them, but everything about this team right now just seems stale. It’s not only the fact that they’re not scoring, it’s the fact they just aren’t generating any kind of a consistent push offensively. They are only 22nd in the league in shots on goal and are 28th in the league when it comes to generating scoring chances (via War-On-Ice). This team has too much talent to be playing like this, and if it doesn’t get turned around soon it’s going to cost the coach his job. Pick: Blues 3, Ducks 2
The rest of Thursday’s picks
New York Islanders 4, Carolina Hurricanes 2
Philadelphia Flyers 3, New Jersey Devils 1
Pittsburgh Penguins 4, Buffalo Sabres 2
Tampa Bay Lightning 5, Colorado Avalanche 2
Chicago Blackhawks 2, Winnipeg Jets 1
Dallas Stars 5, Vancouver Canucks 4
Montreal Canadiens 4, Edmonton Oilers 1
The Anaheim Ducks have had plenty of trouble scoring this season. (USATSI)
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