{"id":111577,"date":"2025-12-28T20:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T20:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/111577\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T20:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T20:06:09","slug":"ducks-have-much-to-celebrate-despite-blowout-loss-to-rival-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/111577\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks have much to celebrate despite blowout loss to rival Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

R.J. Prewitt has been a Ducks<\/a> fan since the first puck dropped in Anaheim, so he\u2019s known good times and bad.<\/p>\n

He was there when the team won the Stanley Cup in 2007, for example, and when it took another final to a seventh game four seasons earlier. But he was also there through each of the last seven seasons, when the Ducks never placed higher than sixth in the Pacific Division and finished a combined 74 games under .500.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my team,\u201d said Prewitt, wearing a white-and-orange Ducks\u2019 sweater as he waited to enter the Crypto.com Arena for Saturday night\u2019s game with the Kings. \u201cI\u2019m going to have faith no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

That faith is getting another stern test this month. Because after entering December atop the division standings for the first time in more than a decade, the Ducks have lost six of their last eight, with the most ignominious loss coming Saturday in a 6-1 thrashing<\/a> by their neighborhood rivals and winger Alex Laferriere, who got his first career hat trick.<\/p>\n

\"Ducks <\/p>\n

Ducks left wing Alex Killorn skates with the puck during a loss to Kings Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

(Katie Chin \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

For the Kings, the season-high six goals comes at the end of a slide that had seen them lose six of their last seven, averaging less than two goals a game over that stretch.<\/p>\n

Laferriere scored more than that by himself Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Kings\u2019 first two goals, from Drew Doughty and Trevor Moore, came in the first four minutes. Laferriere got his first midway through the first period and when Quinton Byfield scored on a power play just before the intermission, the Kings took a 4-0 lead into the locker room at the break.<\/p>\n

For the Ducks, who have been plagued by slow starts \u2014 11 of their 21 wins came in games in which they trailed; only the Philadelphia Flyers have more \u2014 that deficit was too much to overcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s unacceptable,\u201d coach Joel Quenneville said. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to make the playoffs being at that level. So we\u2019ve got to make sure that we recapture that feeling of what it takes to be consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ducks <\/p>\n

Ducks coach Joel Quenneville yells instructions to his players during a game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n

(Paul Beaty \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Yet despite Saturday\u2019s loss, the Ducks and their fans still have a lot of positives to celebrate \u2014 especially given the team\u2019s recent history.<\/p>\n

The Ducks\u2019 21 wins are still most in the division; they didn\u2019t get their 21st win until Jan. 28th last season. And their 130 goals through 38 games \u2014 an average of nearly 3 \u00bd a night \u2014 rank fourth in the NHL. They were in the bottom three in scoring in each of the last three seasons.<\/p>\n

But what had been the most remarkable turnaround in the league through the first three months has suddenly hit a rough patch, challenging the narrative that new coach Quenneville had finally taken the team from pretenders to contenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we\u2019ve got to prove it,\u201d Quenneville said after Saturday\u2019s humiliation, the Ducks\u2019 most lopsided loss of the season. \u201cWe can talk about [how] we want to be a harder-working team this season. But the game tonight didn\u2019t indicate that at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tenaciousness and the relentless has to go be part of our identity. But we can\u2019t talk about it. We\u2019ve got to prove that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quenneville has been here before. In 2008, he took over a young Chicago Blackhawks team that hadn\u2019t been to the playoffs in five seasons and guided it to the conference finals. A year later, it won the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

Then in 2019, he took over a young Florida Panthers\u2019 team and led it to the franchise\u2019s first playoff appearance in three seasons.<\/p>\n

Both teams had to learn to win, had to believe they could win, before they actually did so. Now Quenneville\u2019s young Ducklings are having their beliefs tested by their worst eight-game stretch of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been on a winning-record team in the NHL. And I\u2019m not the only guy,\u201d said 22-year-old center Mason McTavish, one of six Ducks younger than 23. \u201cIt\u2019s a learning curve for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time we know how good we are. And this last six, eight games, it\u2019s not been up to our standard. We\u2019ve taken a huge step this year. But that\u2019s not our end goal. We want to make the playoffs. We want to win the Stanley Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ducks will have to become a lot more consistent to have a chance to make that happen. Because while they\u2019re one of the league\u2019s top scoring teams, only the St. Louis Blues have allowed more goals than the Ducks, who have a minus-2 goal differential. And they\u2019ve been outscored 34-19 in their last eight games.<\/p>\n

The slump, then, is looming as a test of character and resolve. At a similar point in Quenneville\u2019s first season in Chicago, the Blackhawks lost five times in an eight-game stretch. But they rebounded by winning nine of their next 12 and never looked back.<\/p>\n

McTavish, who had his team\u2019s only goal Saturday, said the Ducks have to do the same thing if they hope to show the playoffs are now a realistic goal for a franchise that hasn\u2019t had a winning record in seven seasons.<\/p>\n

\"Ducks <\/p>\n

Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal is congratulated by Nikita Nesterenko and Mason McTavish after blocking a shot by Panthers center Evan Rodrigues to win during a shootout on Oct. 28 in Sunrise, Fla.<\/p>\n

(Lynne Sladky \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to come out the next game and really prove to ourselves that we can play with the top teams in the league,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd beat them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ducks long-suffering supporters are also ready for the pain of the last seven seasons to ease.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, yes, yes. I believe,\u201d said Daniel N\u00fa\u00f1ez of Bakersfield who, like Prewitt, has been a fan from the first season. \u201cWe have a good shot, I think, to win the Pacific Division. We have a really good team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever they\u2019re doing,\u201d Prewitt agreed \u201cI\u2019m there with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"R.J. Prewitt has been a Ducks fan since the first puck dropped in Anaheim, so he\u2019s known good…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[19356,59896,423,2194,48,52,51,59484,10572,47,50,49,8841,59898,59899,59897,24843,278,4634,427,1543],"class_list":["post-111577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-blowout-loss","tag-ducks-fan","tag-game","tag-goal","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-laferriere","tag-league","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-playoff","tag-quenneville","tag-r-j-prewitt","tag-rival-king","tag-saturday-night","tag-season","tag-stanley-cup","tag-team","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}