Feeling a different sort of pressure, the Anaheim Ducks opened the second half of their previously prognosticated Stanley Cup season with two points earned with a better-late-than-never three-goal surge on the Ottawa Senators.
It was the start they needed, but it's not as if they kicked their bad habits to the curb. In fact, the man perhaps at the heart of their struggles, Ryan Getzlaf, was benched and relegated to the fourth line for portions of the third period.
It's wins though, not the safeguarding of certain egos that can bring them above water.
In short
Ninety-five points is considered the barometer that separates playoff and non-playoff teams in the NHL. But with the Pacific Division sagging well behind its Western Conference divisional brethren in the Central, there just might be a little leeway this season for the lucky third team.
With Anaheim having averaged one point per outing in the first half, a 50-point latter portion of the schedule is needed to have a shot at making the playoffs.
So with the two points earned versus the Senators, Anaheim will need, at the very minimum, 24 wins in its 40 remaining dates. That means they must collect the full freight in 60 percent of games to enter the conversation.
In further detail
Whether it's John Gibson or Frederik Andersen in goal, or Shea Theodore and Josh Manson plug-and-playin' on the blue line in place of Cam Fowler and Simon Despres, preventing goals has not been a major concern. In fact, the 100 goals they've allowed trails only three division leaders, and they have the best penalty kill in the league.
Their woes are almost exclusively felt in the offensive end.
Getzlaf's miserable season is well documented. He's served up more goals to the opposition than he's scored this season, at least at even strength. But he's not the only one sputtering, not even close.
Corey Perry, having a down season by his per-game goal-scoring standard, accounted for more than 20 percent of the team's offense before being shut out versus Ottawa. Most fingers should be pointed first at second-line wingers Jakob Silfverberg and Carl Hagelin, paid far too well to have eight goals between them.
The players paid to score must ignite if this team is to have any chance at breaking the 95-point threshold.
But, how?
If there was a simple answer to scoring 0.88 fewer goals per game from one season to the next, you would like to think Bruce Boudreau would have uncovered it already. It's been a historical offensive free fall, having scored at a top-five rate in the West one season, to having 32 fewer goals than the last-place Columbus Blue Jackets the next.
It would be only natural for Bob Murray, noted free-wheeler, to be tempted to make a move. His core group of forwards, certainly get up there in age, needs to win, and soon. But on the same token, his offseason tinkering might be largely responsible for his offense being now off-kilter.
PDO (team shooting plus save percentage) is a contentious stat, but it certainly helps illustrate the Ducks' haplessness, and further reason to be patient.
The Ducks have the league's lowest PDO despite a total save percentage that ranks in the top half of the league. Lack of polish in the offensive zone (though very apparent) is one thing, but to expect this Ducks team to finish with the worst shooting percentage of any team over the last decade is another.
