At some point there needs to be a bottom in every poor start or stretch of games. The Anaheim Ducks may have finally hit bottom on Saturday night with a 5-0 shelling at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning in Tampa.
Steven Stamkos scored twice and Nikita Kucherov, Brian Boyle and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for the Bolts.
“We knew coming into this game we had a chance to have a good road trip, but it’s just an average road trip,” Ducks center Ryan Kesler said. “We’ve got to just throw this game in the garbage and move on. Second period killed us with back-to-back-to-back goals.”
Ben Bishop made 30 saves for the win.
“It was a lot of fun,” Bishop said. “Obviously, to get some goals, it was probably the most electric I’ve seen the building all season. The fans were definitely behind us. Saturday night, everyone’s happy.”
The Ducks had been playing better over the last ten games with six wins to their credit but Saturday saw them slump back to earth.
“We played some good second periods in the last few games, [but] it’s the inconsistency in our game from game to game and period to period,” Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said. “I don’t think it’s so much focused to one period. Game in, game out, it’s the same inconsistencies. We got to find a way to build something where we are playing the right way all the time. We’ve got to find a way to string some wins together.”
For Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau, it was a thud to what might have been a successful road trip.
“Could have been a really good road trip,” Boudreau said. “The first three games, we deserved to win. [Saturday], we were back to where we were in the first eight or nine games, or before the Chicago game.”
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