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Ducks left wing Max Jones, right, controls the puck as Minnesota Wild right wing Mats Zuccarello, left, pursues him during the second period of Thursday’s game at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek, left, shoots against Ducks goaltender John Gibson during the first period of Thursday’s game at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild left wing Kevin Fiala, center top, scores against Anaheim Ducks center Rickard Rakell, bottom left, defenseman Trevor Carrick, bottom right, and goaltender John Gibson, below, with center Joel Eriksson Ek, top left, during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild left wing Kevin Fiala, center, celebrates his goal with defenseman Matt Dumba, left and center Joel Eriksson Ek, right, during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild center Marcus Johansson, left, controls the puck against Anaheim Ducks right wing Jakob Silfverberg, right, during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild left wing Ryan Hartman, center, celebrates his goal with center Nico Sturm, left, and defenseman Dakota Mermis, right, during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Anaheim Ducks center Sam Steel, left, collides with Minnesota Wild defenseman Calen Addison during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Anaheim Ducks defenseman Jani Hakanpaa, left, celebrates a goal by center Sam Steel, right, against the Minnesota Wild during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild defenseman Ian Cole, right, controls the puck past Anaheim Ducks center Troy Terry during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild left wing Marcus Foligno, right, shoots the puck in front of Anaheim Ducks defenseman Jacob Larsson during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Anaheim Ducks center Danton Heinen, right, controls the puck nextx to Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov, right, competes for the puck against Anaheim Ducks defenseman Ben Hutton during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Anaheim Ducks right wing Carter Rowney, top left, centers the puck past Minnesota Wild goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, right, to left wing Max Comtois, left, with Ryan Suter, second from left, defending during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Anaheim Ducks coach Dallas Eakins, center, talks with players during a timeout in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild left wing Marcus Foligno (17) scores past Ducks goaltender John Gibson, right, as Cam Fowler, left, defends during the third period of Thursday’s game at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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Minnesota Wild left wing Marcus Foligno (17) celebrates his goal with left wing Zach Parise, as Anaheim Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler skates away during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
ANAHEIM — Coach Dallas Eakins said he met with his players on Thursday morning and then again just before the Ducks faced the Minnesota Wild later in the evening at Honda Center. They discussed their plan of attack for a possible 5-on-3 or a 4-on-3 power play at great length.
When they were presented with a two-man advantage in the first period, trailing by two goals and poised to ignite a rally, they “froze,” Eakins said. They failed to record a single shot on goal for 1:06 of the 5-on-3 and then only one during the ensuing 5-on-4.
“Too slow and no execution,” Eakins said. “It’s amazing. We spent the morning and then before the game talking about 5-on-3 and 4-on-3 and then when we went out there we froze. We were slow moving the puck and our execution wasn’t even close to what it should be at this level.”
The Ducks never recovered and fell with a thud, 3-1, the seventh time they have been held to one goal in the season’s first 17 games. Remarkably enough, they’ve managed to blank the opposition three times by 1-0 scores behind John Gibson’s stellar goaltending.
Their power-play futility only compounded matters, adding to their frustration. The Ducks went 0 for 3, dropping to 3 for 38 (7.9 percent) overall this season. Nothing was more harmful to their chances to erase a two-goal deficit and rally to win than failing to click during the 5-on-3.
Ryan Hartman and Kevin Fiala gave the Wild a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period, and Marcus Foligno sealed the deal with a goal in the third. Kaapo Kahkonen needed to make only 16 saves to win, stopping all but Sam Steel’s wicked backhander that cut it to 2-1 in the second.
Gibson made 24 saves.
Minnesota’s Ryan Suter broke up the Ducks’ best third-period chance to tie the score, getting enough of the puck to disrupt Max Comtois’ attempt at a wide-open net, after a pretty set up from Carter Rowney. It was a tidy summary of the kind of game it was for the Ducks.
Foligno’s goal at 16:15, just after a power play expired, gave the Wild a 3-1 lead.
In addition to losing the game, the Ducks also lost standout defenseman Hampus Lindholm to an unspecified lower-body injury. Eakins said he didn’t have an update on Lindholm’s condition, adding, “That’s not a good loss no matter how you look at it.”
Kevin Shattenkirk, Lindholm’s defense partner, said the loss of Lindholm was huge as the Ducks tried to rally. Lindholm went into the game as the team’s leader in ice time, logging 22:49 per game. He also plays on the Ducks’ power-play and penalty-killing units.
“He’s kind of irreplaceable,” Shattenkirk said.
The Ducks were already without Josh Manson, another of their top defensemen. He was sidelined for the 14th game on Thursday because of a strained oblique suffered during a scrap with Minnesota’s Jordan Greenway in the Ducks’ 1-0 victory over the Wild on Jan. 18.
Manson was expected to be out for up to six weeks. Jani Hakanpaa has replaced him.
Defensive play was the least of the Ducks’ concerns Thursday.
As ever, they failed to generate enough offense to support Gibson.
Actually, they buzzed the Wild’s net in the opening minutes and it seemed like it might be only a matter of time before they scored and took the lead. They couldn’t hit the net, though. They did everything they should do to start a game, but they failed at the moment of truth.
Whatever momentum they might have generated evaporated in less than a minute, when Hartman scored at 7:27 and Fiala struck at 8:05 to give the Wild a two-goal lead. The Ducks fizzled on the power play late in the first period and their fate was sealed.
“We start that game and we’ve got great pressure,” Eakins said. “We’re just looking for some kind of a reward there and then when you don’t get it, it’s quite deflating. We will continue on. There’s no use feeling sorry for ourselves.”
Said Shattenkirk: “There’s a level of frustration, sure, but we also need to keep our minds positive. As hard as that may be sometimes, we have to stay in a positive mind frame and realize it’s not going well when we’re not getting the chances.”
The Ducks had their chances, but couldn’t convert.
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