Ducks coach cracks wise about his club, except when it comes to penalties

Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle was in a playful mood on a number of topics a day after his team lost its first game in regulation since before St. Patrick’s Day.

Asked about his preemptive declaration that the Edmonton Oilers would whine about faceoffs, Carlyle said, “It was just something I threw out there for you guys [reporters] to bite on.”

On the worst injury he played through as a player: “A toothache.”

On warning his players about taking penalties against Edmonton: “They just don’t listen.”

The Ducks have been rolling for so long that Carlyle can afford to break out his best material. But he did get analytical about the need for the Ducks to stay out of the penalty box as their second-round playoff series resumes with Game 2 on Friday at Honda Center.

In Game 1 on Wednesday, the Ducks gave Edmonton five power plays, surrendered two goals on them and trail the best-of-seven series 1-0.

“Too many penalties, for sure,” Carlyle said. “There’s a couple of question marks that we will have to the officiating concerning some of the penalties. But, all in all, you can’t blame the referees because we high-sticked somebody, or we stuck our stick in somebody’s feet, or we had free hand and grabbed somebody. There’s no defending that.”

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid registered one point, an assist, but he induced Ryan Kesler and Jakob Silfverberg into tripping and holding penalties, respectively. A high-sticking penalty by Hampus Lindholm gave Edmonton a five-on-three advantage that became a five-on-two when Ryan Getzlaf broke his stick.

“They get a lot of momentum on their power play,” Cam Fowler said. “I think that’s a huge thing.”

It’s part of a larger pattern. The Ducks were second in the NHL in minor penalties in the regular season and have taken 27 minor penalties in five playoff games.

“Discipline, first and foremost, is something that we talked about,” Fowler said. “You can’t give a team with their offensive firepower too many looks on the power play … That’s something we can clean up.”

Fowler played more than 26 minutes in his first game since April 4. Some of that was because of the loss of Kevin Bieksa to a lower-body injury, but Fowler typically plays big minutes and the Ducks regained one of their horses.

“The coaching staff has a lot of responsibility for me, and I take full ownership of that,” Fowler said. “I like playing those minutes. It was good, coming back for your first game, you certainly get your legs underneath you. But I tried to keep it as simple as I could… I felt good, and today I’ll recover.”

McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were again major subjects. Draisaitl had a four-point game and has seven goals and five assists in six games against the Ducks this season.

“I think he’s an all-around skilled player,” Silfverberg said. “He’s big. He’s got size. He’s a good skater and obviously he’s great at handling the puck. It’s a guy that we gave him the respect that he deserves and we’ve got to try and find a way to slow him down here in the next couple of games.”

Draisaitl largely gets overshadowed playing on McDavid’s line but he isn’t that under-the-radar as the third pick in the 2014 draft. Carlyle broke it down simply.

“I just think that we’re allowing him too much freedom in the games that we’ve played him,” Carlyle said. “He’s having too much fun.”

Bieksa doubtful

Bieksa is doubtful for Game 2, Carlyle said. Bieksa did not play in the third period after his knee appeared to get caught in a collision with teammate Shea Theodore in the first period. Carlyle said they’ll have “more of an assessment Friday for Bieksa,” a veteran who had four assists in the first round.

Carlyle had suggested that Sami Vatanen would be among the three injured defensemen available for Game 1 but Vatanen didn’t play. Carlyle said the situation “has not allotted us enough time for him to be 100%.”

Vatanen said he’s close to returning from an upper-body injury. There is some concern about coming back too soon, but Vatanen judges it in a different context.

“When I feel like I can help the team to win,” Vatanen said. “I think that’s the main thing.”

How close is he to that?

“Pretty close,” he said. “Really close.”

Leadership nomination

Getzlaf was named a finalist for the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award that recognizes on- and off-ice leadership qualities. Getzlaf is involved in the the Learn To Play program and runs a golf event that has raised more than $1.675 million for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, according to the Ducks.

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