The Anaheim Ducks winning streak ends at six after they fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-0 on Tuesday night.
The Anaheim Ducks winning streak ends at six after they fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-0 on Tuesday night.
While it wasn't a low-event game, it was a low-scoring game thanks to some solid goaltending on both sides.
Radim Zohorna scored the only non-empty net goal of the net, finishing off a broken play in front to squeak the puck past John Gibson.
Despite a combined 68 shots and 5.53 expected goals, no one found the net until Sidney Crosby buried an empty net goal with 20 seconds remaining.
The Ducks put up a strong fight in the third as they looked for another dramatic comeback, but they couldn't solve Magnus Hellberg, who came in for the injured Tristan Jarry.
Here are three takeaways from the loss:
John Gibson Stellar Once Again:
Gibson was crucial in the Duck's 4-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday and came back with another strong effort against the Penguins.
He finished Tuesday's game with 35 saves and 1.52 goals saved above expected to keep the Ducks in this game.
He robbed a few Penguins players too, most notably Evgeni Malkin on a two-on-one.
We're really starting to see peak Gibson early this season, and while it's hard to imagine him keeping this up for the full season, it's good to see.
The ability to also play Lukas Dostal, whose been excellent as well this season, is a massive luxury for Greg Cronin.
Depth Scoring Not There:
The Ducks' offense has been led by a red-hot start from a few players. Frank Vatrano, Ryan Strome, Mason McTavish and Troy Terry have contributed 22 of the Ducks' 37 goals this season, just shy of 60%.
This simply isn't sustainable and we saw what happens if those four can't find the scoresheet, the Ducks don't score.
Vatrano won't continue to be one of the league's best goal-scorers and McTavish won't post 89 points.
Other players have to step up if the Ducks are going to continue to win games.
Of course, Trevor Zegras will find his game at some and you'd expect Alex Killorn to start chipping in as he gets back to game speed, but the Ducks need more from the rest of their lineup.
Ducks Need a Bounce-Back Performance:
The Ducks can't let the high of a six-game win streak turn into the low of a big losing streak off the back of this game.
This loss halted some of the momentum they've built up recently, but they need to continue to play with the confidence we've seen from them all season.
This is where the leadership group for this team has to step up.
Players like Cam Fowler, Terry, and even newcomers like Killorn and Radko Gudas have to lead the way against Philadelphia on Friday,
Friday's game against Philly provides the Ducks a great opportunity to get back in the win column and prove that win streak wasn't a flash in the pan.