After tough start, surging Anaheim Ducks thankful management kept the faith

VANCOUVER - The Anaheim Ducks knew they were running out of time.

Last in the NHL's overall standings at the end of October with a 1-7-2 record that included shutouts in five of the team's first eight games, it was clear major changes could be on the horizon if things didn't improve in short order.

General manager Bob Murray stood his ground, and that belief has been rewarded.

Anaheim started to perk up once the calendar turned to November and has found its stride since Christmas, going a league-best 18-4-2 to climb within two points of the Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Kings.

"Bob did a good job of being patient," said Ducks forward Ryan Kesler. "We knew that if we didn't turn it around he was going to break the group up. We slowly crawled out of the dark hole we were in."

Anaheim (30-19-8) downed the Canucks 5-2 in Vancouver on Thursday to wrap up a gruelling seven-game road trip with a 5-1-1 record and are an impressive 11-1-1 since Jan. 20.

"That's all you can really ask for — a fair shake at it," said Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf. "This group, for the most part, has been through some great times and some tough times so they had faith in us."

The Ducks are doing it differently this year. Even though they've averaged more than four goals a game over the last 13, there's a commitment to defence this season that stems from those early struggles when the club scored just 10 times over its first 10 outings.

"The better we defended, it seems like the more goals started popping in," said Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau. "We weren't hitting posts, they started going between the posts.

"We had a lot of individual meetings with the vets, but there was no panic."

That doesn't mean doubt didn't start to creep into the locker-room. Getzlaf had just one goal, an empty netter, through his first 29 games and was a heavily criticized for his play with and without the puck.

"Our team and myself are human," he said. "When you struggle out of the gates the way we did you're up against it the whole time. Every day is an uphill battle. There's days you don't think the team's going to turn it around or personal success is going to come again.

"You have to (look) back on the things you've been through before and this group has responded well."

One move the Ducks did make was getting forward David Perron from the Pittsburgh Penguins last month. He has six goals and seven assists in 14 games since the trade, but perhaps most importantly, the acquisition has allowed Anaheim to balance its attack by splitting up Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

No one felt the heat early on more than Boudreau, who got the Ducks to last spring's Western Conference final before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in seven games. Now in his fourth season with Anaheim, he said it was impossible to ignore rumours he might be the one to take the fall for his team's dreadful first month.

"(Media) talk about it all day long," said Boudreau. "I knew what I got into when I wanted to be a coach. You can just do as best you can and hope that good things happen."

Despite their great run the last two months, the Ducks are quick to point out that the struggles of some division rivals helped them make up so much ground.

But that doesn't mean they don't believe this could be the start something special.

"Give them due credit for digging themselves out of the hole and realizing as a group they wanted to win more than they wanted any individual honours," said Boudreau. "They stuck together and did what they were supposed to do. Now we're getting the results."

---

Follow @JClipperton on Twitter