Anaheim Ducks stay away from ‘woe is me’ attitude in loss to Kings

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Anaheim Ducks tried not to take too much disappointment from their 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. 

The Ducks know if they suffer with every defeat they won’t climb in the standings and eventually back into the NHL playoff picture. It’s an attitude that’s helped them from a 1-7-2 start to their current 19-18-7 record. After the loss the Ducks are 4-3-0 on a current eight-game homestand that was supposed to vault them upwards in the standings.The Ducks finish up this stretch with game against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.

It’s unclear whether their patience will eventually wear out, but for now it’s the only approach that’s been successful during their disappointing 2015-16 campaign.

“We dug our own hole by playing the way we did,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It wasn’t we weren’t getting puck luck the first 20 games of the year. We dug our hole. It looks as the season goes on every time there’s a bad break, you don’t want to get into a ‘woe is me.’ You have to forget it and get back at it.” 

Against the Kings, yet another lackluster second period doomed the Ducks to keep them at 45 points – three back of the Nashville Predators for the last Western Conference Wild Card spot and three behind the San Jose Sharks for the last Pacific Division postseason slot.

Anaheim came into the game being outscored 45-19 in the second period of their games and the Kings capitalized on Anaheim’s second period lapses Sunday. 

First, LA winger Tyler Toffoli fired a bank shot off Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen in front of Anaheim’s net to put the game at 2-1 in favor of the Kings at the 15:44 mark.

Then at the 17:40 mark, Kings center Anze Kopitar deflected a Brayden McNabb point shot through goaltender John Gibson to make the game 3-1.

“We preach about (playing well in the second period) a lot,” Boudreau said. “Hopefully in the very near future we get that done.” 

The Ducks fought back in the third period when David Perron whipped a wrister past a screened Jonathan Quick at the 5:33 mark. But making a comeback against the Kings in the third is a tall task for most teams – especially one day after Los Angeles imploded in the final frame in a loss to the Ottawa Senators. The Kings weren’t going to let it happen again, especially not to the rival Ducks. 

“It was a good bounce back game for us,” Toffoli said. “We scored a good power play goal and got the win like we wanted.”

The Ducks thought they had a goal midway through the third period when a puck appeared to deflect off the skate of forward Andrew Cogliano and into LA’s net. It was ruled Cogliano directed the puck into the net with a distinct kicking motion, which meant the goal was not allowed.

“It was tough. I didn’t mean to kick it in. I think sometimes momentum you just move your foot a little bit and it was a little bit of a forward motion. I think if I planted my skate it would have redirected in but it’s tough in that situation,” Cogliano said. “I think sometimes you just move your foot when you’re in that spot and I think my foot was going towards the net.”

Perron, who was acquired in a Friday trade to add skill to the group, was impressed with how the team seems to have come back from the depths of their early season slump.

“With the start they have to be in the position they’re in to be right there in the playoffs, I think it’s a really good sign,” Perron said. “They have really good leaders if they were able to do that to come back. It’s tough to make up ground in this league. Every team is pretty good.”

This type of positive attitude has turned into Anaheim’s best coping mechanism in a season where they’ve gone from Stanley Cup favorite to a group trying to just make the playoffs. In the NHL there’s no room for moral victories, but that’s how the Ducks viewed matching the Pacific leading Kings stride for stride.

“We’re battling. I think tonight if we didn’t get down 3-1, I think we showed we could play with them,” Cogliano said. “I think they’re probably the toughest team to play in the league when they’re playing their game. They’re just very good. I know they’re tough to play against but I think we proved to ourselves we could play with them.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper