ANAHEIM — The challenges facing the Ducks are almost too numerous to list now that the remainder of the season can be measured in days and weeks rather than months. One of the biggest is how they play their final games, how they respond to their lowly status during the season’s stretch run.
“The challenge right now is we’ve got ‘X’ amount of games left,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “We’re not where we hoped to be in the standings. We wanted to at least be, at this point in the season, going, ‘Hey, there’s a chance maybe if we win a few in a row maybe we’d be in the mix for some kind of a playoff race.’
“You don’t want that to hang over your head moving forward.”
Pride must take hold at some point, but there’s more to it than that if the Ducks hope to avoid last place in the West Division and second-to-last in the NHL’s overall standings. Building blocks for the future must be cemented into place.
“I think probably the most important thing for the finish is we’re still trying to create a winning culture and I think we can’t get caught up in the mindset that every game we’re just going out to be evaluated on a singular level,” Ducks defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said.
“It’s not just a matter of letting ourselves slip and making the same mistakes, we have to keep improving and maturing as a team and learning our lessons and making sure we’re doing it as a team, and not just worrying what someone might be thinking of us or what kind of decision might be made going forward.”
Eakins agreed that a winning culture must be established. But he also said it cannot happen without establishing a culture of hard work first and foremost. He disputed any notion that the Ducks haven’t worked hard enough this season or that’s why they are mired in last place.
“Overall, I think our group has worked extremely hard,” he said. “I’m not sitting here saying we don’t work hard enough or we don’t compete hard enough. Overall, I think we’ve done an excellent job there. The next step for us is every night, every minute, nonstop. Every night, every minute, nonstop.
“We have to be very focused on what our job is and it’s to compete and work hard at all times. Our next step is, and especially for our younger guys, is that their habits become every minute, every shift, every day, work and compete, and you hope your older guys are going to lead that right through the end.”
MINOR UPDATE
The Ducks summoned defenseman Axel Andersson from Sodertalje SK, his Swedish team, and assigned him to the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. Andersson was on the roster but not in the lineup for the Gulls’ 6-4 victory over the Ontario Reign on Sunday afternoon in El Segundo.
The Ducks acquired Andersson from the Boston Bruins before the trade deadline last year in exchange for Ondrej Kase. Andersson was playing with the Moncton (New Brunswick) Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at the time. The Ducks loaned him to Sodertalje to start 2020-21.
Andersson, 21, had two goals and nine assists in 51 games this season in Sweden.
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