Leclerc Picks Up Where He Began Last Season

Left winger Mike Leclerc started out hot last season too. Perhaps not as scalding as this season, during which he has two goals and a team-leading seven points in the Ducks’ first six games.

But he did have four goals and five points in a four-game span between Oct. 15 and 21 last season. Three days later, however, an elbow injury that required surgery sidelined him for 11 games. He never quite regained his scoring touch, although he finished his first full NHL season with eight goals and 19 points.

“All my training went down the drain,” he said of sitting out. “I had a great summer. I was in the best shape of my life, then I couldn’t lift weights for six weeks and had to start all over again. Everybody else was in their midseason stride. It was tough for me to get back in shape.”

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In an attempt to improve ice conditions, the NHL has this season ordered maintenance workers at rinks leaguewide to shovel away the snowy buildup around the nets and in front of the benches during television timeouts.

In theory, it should help improve play. But the Ducks said the conditions Tuesday at the Nassau Coliseum were atrocious. And they should know about poor conditions since they play their home games on the notoriously bad Arrowhead Pond ice.

“The league is trying to keep the ice as fresh as they can, and that’s good,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “The puck never sat down flat on the ice after about the 10-minute mark of each period [Tuesday]. I guess the good thing was the puck was bouncing over their sticks as well as ours.”

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The Ducks took two of three from the New York-area teams, the first stops on their five-game East Coast trip. They also left behind one injured opponent in each of the games, a sign they are a far more physical team than in recent seasons.

Encouraging for the Ducks is that newcomers Dan Bylsma, Jim Cummins and Andrei Nazarov are playing key roles in providing the stronger presence.