What we learned from the Ducks’ 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes

Opportunities for victory don’t get much better than Friday. The Ducks had four days to prepare for a struggling Carolina team that played its backup goalie.

The result was a giant step back, a 5-1 loss in which the Ducks weren’t engaged at the start and were beaten by the Hurricanes, who ploddingly protected a 3-0 lead and rode out a brief Ducks push.

Here’s what we learned:

Their offense is going nowhere fast. The Ducks have repeatedly pointed to “puck luck” as part of being last in the NHL at 1.90 goals per game. But at the 29-game mark, this no longer can be classified as bad luck so much as their makeup.

Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler and Jakob Silfverberg, three of their top four scorers last season, have combined for seven goals.

“I don’t know why the offense is so dry,” Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I know the guys are trying to score. It’s not like they don’t want to score. But when these things happen, and it’s happening to everybody — it’s not just one guy — it’s tough to understand.”

They are prone to disinterest. Getzlaf said the Ducks weren’t emotionally involved enough, a refrain that has been heard before in profoundly disappointing Ducks losses.

With their season slipping with each regulation loss, it seems incomprehensible.

“We should always be into the game,” Silfverberg said. “I mean, we love to play hockey. Obviously, the first two periods were nothing the way we wanted to play. We didn’t finish our checks. We didn’t get the pucks deep. We didn’t really get into the game. You can’t only play one period and win a game. It doesn’t work in this league. You’ve got to work hard for 60 minutes if you want to win. That’s what they [Carolina] did tonight.”

Nate Thompson could face supplemental discipline. It doesn’t seem likely given that Thompson was ejected from the game for his hit to the head of Carolina’s Justin Faulk, who played the rest of the game. Thompson was suspended for two games for an illegal check to the head in 2013, when he played for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

That history sometimes plays into possible suspensions, but Thompson is generally not known as a dirty player. He said he would be prepared if it’s looked at by the NHL, which has clamped down on head hits in recent seasons.

“I’m sure it will be reviewed,” Thompson said. “I’m sure the league will talk about it. We’ll just kind of wait and see.”