McDonald links penalties to slide

The Ducks must dig in their blades if they hope to stop their latest slide, according to veteran center Andy McDonald. The first step would be keeping their penalty-killing unit off the ice.

McDonald, who has been stuck in his own scoring drought lately, was attempting to enjoy the day off Monday, but couldn’t help think back to Anaheim’s latest off-night, a 4-0 loss Sunday to visiting Edmonton. It was the Ducks’ fifth loss in seven games and the sixth time this season the defending Stanley Cup champions have been shut out. They were blanked only seven times last season, including once in the playoffs.

McDonald, who hasn’t scored a goal since a 3-2 overtime victory Nov. 9 against San Jose, has developed one theory as to why Anaheim is having trouble finding the back of the net.

The Ducks (12-12-4) are averaging a league-high 19.7 penalty minutes a game, up from their league-leading 17.8 average last season.

The next closest offender is Philadelphia at 18.8, but only five teams average more than 16 penalty minutes this season.

What do those numbers add up to?

“It’s tough to score goals when you’re killing penalties,” said McDonald, who last season had 27 goals and 78 points but so far this season has only three goals and 14 points.

McDonald also said officials have become more aware of Anaheim’s well-deserved reputation as a physical team. According to NHL statistics, checking penalties along the boards are one of the Ducks’ biggest offenses compared to the rest of the league. In all, the penalty-box door has swung open 215 times in 28 games.

It was a little easier to overlook the league-leading penalty minutes last season, as the Ducks began 12-0-4 and were still 25-3-6 heading into mid-December.

“Last year, we were able to kill them off,” McDonald said. “I guess fans didn’t even notice [the penalty-killing unit] was so strong . . . they forgot we were killing penalties.”

The penalty-killing unit has also been ineffective at its most important job, holding the score while a man down. Anaheim has given up a league-leading 33 power-play goals, which is 43% of its total goals allowed.

McDonald made it clear, however, that penalties are just one barrier the Ducks need to overcome.

“We have to find ways to score,” he said.

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dan.arritt@latimes.com