ANAHEIM — The long and winding road that has been the Ducks’ campaign induced a little more motion sickness on Tuesday night, when they dropped their seventh straight game, 4-0, to the Minnesota Wild at Honda Center.
Like their season-worst slump of eight consecutive defeats, all seven losses have come in regulation. They’ve been outscored 35-7 and shut out on three occasions during this go-round in the doldrums.
It is the first time in the Ducks’ 30-year franchise history they have had two losing streaks of at least seven games in the same season.
John Gibson started in net, but like Lukáš Dostál on Thursday he received no goal support in a loss to Minnesota, stopping 27 shots in defeat.
Ryan Hartman notched a goal and helped set one up for Kirill Kaprizov. Matt Boldy assisted on both of those goals. Jon Merrill and Jacob Lucchini also tallied for Minnesota, which got 26 saves from Filip Gustavsson in his third shutout of the season.
The final 20 minutes served to further cushion the visitors’ lead. A giveaway just inside the offensive blue line created a two-on-one rush on which Adam Beckman dished to Lucchini for a one-timer that made it 4-0.
Minnesota cracked the scoring and then opened it wider with a pair of goals in the opening 1:56 of the second period.
First, Cam Fowler intercepted the puck, only to be stripped by Boldy below the goal line. His pass for Marcus Foligno in front set up a shot from the slot that generated a rebound. Hartman mopped it up just 35 seconds into the frame.
Then, the one area that the Wild dominated statistically led to a goal, having won 75% of faceoffs through two periods, helped get them a goal. An offensive-zone draw win by Marat Khusnutdinov and a quick dish by Frederick Gaudreau set up a long shot to the far side through traffic by Merrill. The Wild led 2-0 at the 1:56 mark.
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With 8:10 left in the period, the Ducks were victimized on the penalty kill, where they’ve struggled mightily of late, after killing off two earlier infractions.
Gibson was under heavy fire in the buildup to the goal. Kaprizov recovered a shot attempt, reviving the play with his skating and passing alike. He served Boldy a one-timer on a platter and then found a contested rebound that became goal No. 36 of 2023-24 for the man some call “The Thrill.”
The first period had passed by scoreless, with Minnesota carrying play and the Ducks hitting the net just once until a power play enlivened their offense, generating three shots.
More to come on this story.