Corey Perry On a Roll, Ducks Are Not

After nearly making it into the Western Conference finals last year, then re-signing Scott Niedermayer and obtaining Saku Koivu, the Ducks appeared poised for a sure-fire playoff spot.

Instead, Anaheim is struggling to find its footing, with a division-low 19 points, making the Ducks the West's counterpart to inexplicably slow-starting Carolina. The talent level is unquestioned, but the postseason is going to be a dream unless the Ducks get it going fast.

Anaheim does have one good roll going. Corey Perry is riding a 15-game scoring streak.

"Things have been going personally well, but it's not leading to too many wins for the team," Perry told FanHouse by phone. "Personally, I feel like I'm playing well, like I'm leaving it all out on the ice."

Perry (28 points in 22 games) believes his hot streak might be related to getting prepared for the season early, thanks to Team Canada and going to the Olympic camp in Calgary during August. The experience was a good one for Perry, who called it "a great four days." Now, his play to start the season should help put him in a good position for the final Canadian roster.

"It's going to be interesting," Perry said. "They're going to name the team in a month, so it's down the stretch. It's going to be a tough team to pick and it's going to be a fun team to watch."

The Ducks were a fun team to watch in recent years, defined by sort of a rough-and-tumble physicality as well as skilled players such as Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, whose own scoring streak ended last week at 11 games. There's no secret why the two men have interlocking hot streaks; they've been linemates for years and one always knows where the other is on the ice.

"I don't think we've played a game without each other," Perry said. "And being friends off the ice definitely helps with the chemistry and bonding. And it also helps when a guy like that is always thinking pass before shooting."

On the defensive side, however, the Ducks had a major change. In the offseason, bruising defenseman Chris Pronger was dealt to Philadelphia. Did that throw off the Ducks' dynamics?

"I don't think the chemistry changed," Perry said. "We added personnel to the team and it's starting to come together. When you lose a guy like Chris Pronger, that's a lot of minutes to eat up. He's one of the best defensemen in the league and you can see what he brought to the team. But we're still going to play a forechecking, grinding game every night."

The flip side of that is that Anaheim has taken a lot of unnecessary penalties, and the team is second in the league in total minutes penalized. Combine that with the second-worst penalty kill in the NHL, and the results are, well, poor.

Perry said that issue is addressed every day. The Ducks talk about being smarter when it comes to penalties all the time. A goal-saving penalty, fine. Lots of little hooking and tripping calls, eliminate those, and maybe the Ducks will be at full strength more often.

Anaheim wrapped up a brutal four-game road trip last week that saw the team give up 18 goals and earn just one point. The Ducks have won only two road games, period. Now, they are home for seven in a row, and they've earned two wins, including last night's shootout victory over Calgary, and lost to league-leading San Jose by one goal.

"It's been a tough start," Perry said. "We're playing well at certain points and all of a sudden there's a lapse for 20 minutes. We haven't put 60 minutes together. We don't know how good a team we can be yet."