Anaheim will look to get back on track after opening the homestand with consecutive losses to Nashville and New York. The Ducks led 2-1 after the first period Wednesday night against the Islanders, but five unanswered goals would prove too much to overcome in the third.
"We just didn't pay attention to those last final details fo excuting our passes and teams like that force you to be almost letter perfect," Kevin Shattenkirk said. "Tough to take a couple steps back when we were moving in the right direction, but we'll see now what we're made of. Now it's a good opportunity to see how we've grown, if we can put it behind us and just move right on to find that higher level of game we've been playing lately."
"It seemed like we were in our zone for the whole game Wednesday]," Max Jones added. "It seemed like we couldn't get the sustained zone time to get rolling and it just was like that the whole game."
The top priority for the Ducks tonight will be restoring the defensive play that had carried them to points in eight of nine games, but suffered in allowing 11 goals to the Preds and Isles.
"When you're not executing your passes and you turn those pucks over, you're immediately chasing the game at that point," Shattenkirk said. "They obviously have possession, but they start their cycle game and we have to find ways to end the play quicker, get the puck back in our hands and get out of our zone. I think that's where [New York
. "The puck management, it caught up to us in the second period. The first three goals are just blatant turnovers in the neutral zone."
Columbus (21-39-7, 49 points) sits last in the NHL, with a 3-5-2 record in their last 10 games.
