On Friday, the Anaheim Ducks face the L.A. Kings, who, in case you haven’t noticed, are kind of on a roll right now.
And that roll would very likely continue for the Kings if the Ducks put forward another effort like the one they had Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators.
The Ducks were shut out 3-0 on home ice, ending their brief winning streak at three games. They remain atop the Pacific Division. But the Kings have won eight in a row, made a big trade earlier Wednesday, and appear like they could threaten to go on another lengthy playoff run.
Prior to their small three-game winning streak, the Ducks had been beaten in five of six games.
Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau had a pretty direct message to his team after the loss to Ottawa.
“We can’t wait until the third period to play. We’re capable of doing a lot more than that. It’s maddening,” he said, as per the club’s Twitter account.
“We face a super test Friday [against LA]. We better pull our heads out of our butts or it’s not going to be pretty,” he added.
The Ducks tested Ottawa’s goalie Andrew Hammond with 25 shots on goal, and 15 in the final 40 minutes.
.@EliasSports also says Andrew Hammond is just the 2nd goalie in @Senators history to post a shutout in one of his first three NHL starts.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 26, 2015