Ducks find there is more to winning than getting healthier
ANAHEIM — Being healthy is relative in a sport where there are nightly collisions and the probability of getting hit by a puck shot up to 90 miles per hour or more.
As long as one is able to play, one is "healthy.".
But when it's the Ducks and the number of significant injuries they have dealt with this season, their game against Vegas represented the healthiest lineup they were able to put on the ice.
It doesn't mean wins will automatically follow.
It didn't against the Golden Knights, who erased an early deficit and won going away even as the Ducks welcomed Ryan Kesler back for his season debut.
And it doesn't mean that liftoff will commence even though the only two notable players that remain on the sidelines are Corey Perry and Patrick Eaves.
Every win matters to a group that's got to work their way above the logjam they're in for the final playoff spots in the Western Conference.
Work is the key word.
"This doesn't happen automatic," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.
"This is the best league in the world and anybody can beat anybody on any given night.
You have to have your 'A' game going to have success.
"We've been fortunate enough to scrape, crawl, scratch to stay relevant with the rest of the group.
And we're in it. We're close.
But now it's time for our team to take the next step.
Now how quickly we can do that, that's up to us.".
Slowly, the Ducks have crept closer to being complete after opening the year without Kesler, Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen.
During it, they've lost Ryan Getzlaf, Cam Fowler, Ryan Miller and Ondrej Kase for multiple weeks.
Others have missed multiple games.
And while Vatanen was swapped for Adam Henrique, the Ducks lost Perry on the same night Getzlaf came back from a facial fracture.
Eaves continues to deal with Guillain-Barré syndrome and any appearance on the ice by the winger this season would be a triumph.
Now that he has most of the pieces for his game board, Carlyle has the challenge of finding what pieces work best with each other.
It is easy to put Getzlaf back in his top-line spot and Kesler in his shutdown role.
But the Ducks can't assume everything clicks right into place.
"We know that we can do that but we also know that it's not going to be easy," winger Rickard Rakell said.
"Just because we have everybody – Kes hasn't played in a long time.
We can't just expect him to be lights out right away even though he's going to give everything he has and work hard and do everything that he's good at.
"We still got to come together as a team and make sure that we play hard every night.
Keeping a consistent work ethic matters once the emotion of inserting top players back in wears off.
That wasn't apparent in their loss to Vegas, where the Ducks played an intense opening 15 minutes but fell off and didn't match the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights when they raised their level.
"We're not going to use last night's game as any barometer or indicator," Carlyle said.
"Because we're going to turn the page on that.
I liken last night's game to our game in Chicago (a 7-3 loss on Nov.
27).
"We had very little going after a certain period of time and we didn't mount much of an attack.
And we were basically standing around watching and doing a lot of self-destructing.".
PERRY IMPROVING.
The signs are that the Ducks could get Perry back in action when they return from their league-mandated bye week for a Jan.
13 game against the Kings.
Or it could come before that break.
Carlyle said Perry could be starting to skate again and getting back involved with practices.
Perry was watching Thursday's workout from the tunnel area leading to their bench.
"He's on slide board now so that's a big step," Carlyle said.
"I would expect him to make the trip next week.
I don't know if he'll play in any of the games.
But I'm sure he's going to make the trip and he'll be practicing with us shortly.".
RASMUSSEN ON WAIVERS.
The Ducks put forward Dennis Rasmussen on waivers in order to retroactively open up the roster spot necessary to activate Kesler and stay within the 23-player roster maximum.
If Rasmussen clears, the club could send him to their American Hockey League team in San Diego or keep him in Anaheim with the option to ship him out without requiring another pass through waivers.
The veteran had one goal and three assists in 27 games but hadn't played since Dec.
16 and Kesler's return pushed him further down the depth chart.
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