Playoff Math Looking Tough

There are 42 games left.

The Mighty Ducks are 13th in the Western Conference.

Some basic math:

It took 95 points for the Ducks to finish seventh last season. They have 35 now. So to get to last season’s point total, they cannot lose more than 12 games the rest of the season, and that is only if they win the other 30 games.

Bleak? Not yet. A 30-12 record to close out the regular season might be beyond the Ducks’ capability. Though it might not take 95 points to get in the playoffs, the light is growing dimmer.

So Coach Mike Babcock was ready to underscore the obvious.

“We got to win some games,” he said after a 3-1 loss to Detroit on Saturday.

Their timing is right. The Ducks play 16 games in 31 days heading into the All-Star break, and 15 are against Western Conference teams.

“This stretch of games, hopefully, is going to help us get on the positive side,” defenseman Ruslan Salei said. “It has been hard for us to score goals. When you’re scoring one or two goals a game, it’s hard to win games.”

The Ducks have scored 15 goals in their last 10 games. The only one they got Saturday came when the puck was deflected by two Red Wing players before Andy McDonald swatted it into the net.

Turnovers continue to plague them. Salei lost the puck behind the net in the third period Saturday, which led to Brendan Shanahan’s game-winning goal.

Too little offense, too many turnovers -- a bad combination.

“We have to develop the attitude that we are a good team,” defenseman Keith Carney said. “We have to trust each other and stick to the game plan.”

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A guy who was very nearly an ex-Duck was a visitor to the Duck dressing room Saturday.

Corey Perry, who was to be part of the deal to bring forward Mike Comrie from Edmonton, came by after the loss to Detroit to get a wide-eyed look at an NHL team. Perry, one of two first-round picks last June, plays junior hockey for London and leads the Ontario Hockey League in scoring.

With the Ducks within driving distance, they had Perry visit. Perry was far from put off about the trade rumors.

“I hear Edmonton asked for me,” Perry said. “It’s tough because you don’t know what’s going to happen. But it’s exciting too.”