Duclair sits out a game, is ‘starting from scratch’
Coyotes winger Anthony Duclair didn’t score.
He didn’t set someone else up for a goal.
Actually, he didn’t even register a shot on net – one of a handful of players with a mostly bare summary after the Coyotes were blanked 4-0 Tuesday by the Blackhawks to drop their fifth straight, tying their longest losing streak of the season.
But the game was still meaningful for Duclair.
It was his first since coach Dave Tippett assigned him a “reset” Monday by sitting him as a healthy scratch. And that timeout, in Duclair’s mind, triggered a fresh start, separating a miserable beginning from what he hopes turns into a productive response.
“I’m starting from scratch now on,” he said. “Obviously, it’s not ideal for me to sit down in the stands and I don’t want to do that again. So I gotta make sure that, like ‘Tip’ said, just putting the reset button on and just work hard every day.”
Through 24 games, Duclair has tallied only one goal and three assists. Ten of his teammates have scored more, and 12 have higher point totals – this after Duclair dazzled as a rookie last season by racking up 20 goals (third-most on the team) and 44 points (fourth).
He didn’t overwhelm goalies with shots in 2015-16; his 105 on-net attempts ranked 11th on the Coyotes, but 19 percent of the pucks he shot went in – an impressive shooting percentage that was tied for fourth-best in the entire NHL among players with at least 50 shots.
His current 3.7 clip is way behind last season’s mark, but he’s also on pace to finish with 91 shots this season after posting 27 so far – a drop that suggests Duclair might benefit from simply taking more chances in the offensive zone.
Getting shots off, however, requires having the puck, and that’s another area Duclair could look to improve as a minus-44 shot differential during 5on-5 play points to a lack of possession by the Coyotes when he’s on the ice.
“That’s probably the main reason why (I sat out), I think,” Duclair said. Flames update: The Flames visit the Coyotes for their final stop on a brief two-game road trip having won a season-high four in a row. They edged the Stars 2-1 Tuesday, overwhelmed the Ducks 8-3 Sunday, clipped the Wild 3-2 in a shootout last Friday and shut out the Maple Leafs 3-0 Nov. 30. Winger Johnny Gaudreau made his return to the lineup during this stretch after missing 10 games with a fractured finger. Since returning Sunday, Gaudreau has two goals and two assists. Overall, he’s tied for the team lead in points with 15. Centers Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett and winger Michael Frolik also have 15 points. Monahan has a team-high eight goals. Goalie Chad Johnson has been in charge of the crease lately. He’s been in net for all four of these wins, posting a .953 save percentage during the span. Calgary is 8-6-2 on the road this season. “Not really doing much out there.”
There’s plenty Duclair can do to help generate more scoring opportunities. He can “work harder and skate faster and control the puck more,” Tippett said, and Duclair certainly has the skillset to facilitate all three.
He has speed, which can not only open up space to maneuver but also help him track down the opponent to try to win the puck. And his stick-handling can help him hold onto it when he gets it.
But climbing out of a funk like this would also seem to require a mental perseverance, a fortitude that it looked like Tippett tried to stoke by having Duclair watch a game – the first time he’s been a healthy scratch in his tenure with the Coyotes.
“For a scorer, when they’re not scoring, all they think about is scoring,” Tippett said. “Sometimes you have a little reset, and it kind of gets all the parts of their game back in order and it’s amazing how the scoring comes back around.”