In Anaheim, Jamie Benn picked up three assists in the Dallas Stars 4-0 whitewash of the Ducks Wednesday night. The three points puts Benn in a tie for the NHL lead in scoring this season.
Jamie Benn picked up 3 assists in win over Ducks 0 file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I’d be lying to say it wasn’t on my mind, but it wasn’t really the trophy I was going for this year,” Benn said. “I think the high expectations our team had this year; we kind of failed and obviously didn’t make the playoffs. That was more our No. 1 goal.”
With their captain, Ryan Getzlaf, out of the lineup for rest, the Ducks were unable to generate much offense or defense in the game.
“We want to make sure he’s 100 percent when he goes into the playoffs,” said Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau.
A win in regulation or extra time would have clinched the west for the Ducks.
“We’ve been talking about it for a while,” said forward Corey Perry, who usually plays with Getzlaf. “We knew where we’re at and we knew what we had to do, and it’s very frustrating what we did tonight.”
The Ducks close out the regular season Saturday with a tilt against the Arizona Coyotes in Glendale.
“It didn’t seem like we had any energy or life,” Boudreau said. “I wish I had an answer to why we were that bad after five days of rest.
“We should be able to create our own emotion. We’re at home and we’re playing in front of our fans. We lost the last game at home. There should be some sense of urgency, but there wasn’t.”
A little energy would be welcome after the effort on home ice.
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