The Ducks have hit the midway point of a four-game Canadian road trip after back-to-back shutout losses in Ottawa and Toronto.
"That performance in the third was embarrassing, myself included," Troy Terry said of the loss to the Maple Leafs Tuesday. "It's unacceptable. This year, everyone knows how hard it's been, but all we have is each other and that's been the message. Sometimes games aren't going to go our way. But to not play for each other, it's unacceptable."
Anaheim's goaltending depth was already tested in the absence of backup Anthony Stolarz and will face an even steeper challenge now without John Gibson, who left Tuesday's game with a lower-body injury and was replaced by rookie Lukas Dostal. The Ducks recalled 23-year-old Olle Eriksson Ek from San Diego Wednesday, who projects to backup Dostal tonight.
"I'm embarrassed the way we let Lukas down in the third," head coach Dallas Eakins told reporters postgame. "It's the one thing that this team hasn't done this year. They've always worked for each other and we had a few players that decided they were just going to play by themselves and it cost us."
The Ducks now sit 7-20-3 on the season and 2-13-3 on the road.
Anaheim takes on a Montreal team that is looking to bounce back from a 3-2 loss last night in Ottawa. The Canadiens scored twice in the third period to cut into a 3-0 deficit, but could not find the equalizing goal to force overtime.
"We have to have better discipline," forward Christian Dvorak told NHL.com's Callum Fraser after the Habs allowed two power-play goals. "They have a really good power play, and we knew that beforehand. We just took too many penalties, and they took advantage. We were the better team 5-on-5, so we've just got to make sure we stay out of the box."
"Our discipline kind of slipped away in the second," added Kirby Dach. "I felt like 5-on-5 we were playing our game, we had control."
Following tonight's game, the Ducks and Canadiens will meet for the Southern California half of the two-game season series Mar. 3 at Honda Center.
