Lukas Dostal faced only 20 shots Saturday night, yet the Ducks' defensive structure was exposed again, according to Patrick Present.
Anaheim lost to the Islanders, its second straight defeat after a 4-2 loss to Nashville on Wednesday. Coming into the weekend, the Ducks were 10-8-1 with a goal differential of -1.
Present noted that Dostal might have made two more difficult saves at most, that the big three forwards were handily shut down apart from a tap-in by Cutter Gauthier, and that the defensive habits were exposed yet again.
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Dostal gave up 5 goals on those 20 shots, and no one is putting this one on the crease. Joel Quenneville's group looked like a team that gives up quality chances and hopes the goalie cleans it up.
That has been the pattern for a while. The Ducks came into Saturday with 72 goals for and 73 against, which is not what a team built on its offense is supposed to look like.
The offense hasn't been the issue. Gauthier has 16 goals in 18 games and 10 of them on the power play. We covered Gauthier's third hat trick in five games against Pittsburgh last week, and he scored again Saturday.
But one winger scoring at that pace can only paper over so much. When the top forwards get checked out of a game, nobody else is stepping in to carry it, and Nikita Nesterenko and Leo Carlsson each had a goal or an assist on a night the result was never close.
Should the Ducks trade for help on defense?
Yes, and the sooner the better. Saturday's game came at home, where Anaheim was 3-5-1 before puck drop, and the road record of 7-3-0 is the only reason the standings still look reasonable.
Nobody has reported that a deal is close, so the trade angle is an opinion, not news. But the logic is hard to argue with. A team that keeps giving up high-quality chances needs defenders who can break the puck out and close gaps, and Pat Verbeek's current group isn't doing either consistently.
Quenneville can tweak pairings and tighten the neutral zone, and he probably will. Yet if the same defensive habits keep appearing game after game, the fix has to come from outside the room.
The Ducks get a quick chance to respond Sunday against Calgary at home. Another game like Saturday's and the conversation around Verbeek's phone gets louder.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
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