Ducks need to get physical, says Sheldon Souray
So now what?
The Ducks had won 13 consecutive home games, topped by a gritty third-period rally to beat NHL points leader Chicago last week, only to lose their last three at home.
They gave up five goals on Friday against Detroit and Monday against San Jose and fell behind 2-0 in the first 10 minutes of Sunday’s game against Detroit and in the San Jose game. Now they start a four-game trip on Wednesday in San Jose.
“One thing we have that others don’t is the track record,” Ducks veteran defenseman Sheldon Souray said Tuesday from the airport. “We’ll respond to this adversity and keep going.”
More than tired legs — Monday night’s 5-3 loss to San Jose was their 17th game in 30 days — Souray said the Ducks have neglected the attributes that had helped them rise in the West.
“We’ve got to get a sense of urgency back in our game,” Souray said Monday night. “We’re starting these games possibly thinking it’s going to be an easy night. We’ve got to understand we’ve played well all year to put ourselves in the position that other teams are going to be ready for us.
“So we should have a little bit of a swagger, for sure, because we deserve to be where we are. We’ve played very well. But we’ve gotten away from that a little bit. We’ve gone into games, started to feel our way around games. And we’ve been down every game.”
Souray said the Ducks need to return to their physical nature, something that was not showing when goaltender Viktor Fasth was being peppered by 31 shots during the first two periods Monday.
Corey Perry said the answer lies in more attacking of the opposing net, as the Ducks did in the final period Monday.
“We have to win some more battles, get traffic to the front and back of the net. That’s how goals are scored,” Perry said. “You do that, the ketchup bottle’s open. The feeling we had in that Chicago game, that’s the emotion you’ve got to play with.
“There’s always peaks and valleys. You try to get out of the valleys as quick as possible.”
Tonight
AT SAN JOSE
When: 7.
Where: HP Pavilion.
On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 830.
Record vs. Sharks: 2-1-1.
Etc.: Teemu Selanne on Monday surpassed Teppo Numminen for most NHL games played by a player born in Finland (1,373).
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
