The Ducks look tired.

Randy Carlyle didn’t want to give the perception of hopelessness.

That was his explanation for not pulling Jean-Sebastien Giguere during Sunday’s 4-0 loss to Edmonton:

“In my mind, when you do that in that situation, I thought it wasnt the right thing to do. When you make that move in a 4-0 hockey game, it leads people to believe that you made a change because the outcome is hopeless. In that specific situation, thats the way I read it. I didnt feel that was appropriate at that time. Thats the way I read it.”

That was probably a wise strategy. The Ducks looked flat out of gas on Sunday, and they were committing their same old mistakes by taking penalties in the offensive zone. It was a downright ugly game. But at least they kept their goalie in, so it couldn’t have been that bad, right?

Some more postgame quotes …

From Giguere:
“It still is a very simple game. Its entirely up to the players right now to see what were going to do. The system works, because weve done it last year. Its the same system. We havent changed anything. Its a proven system. Its a system thats won a championship. We know it works. We just have to believe in it, and go ahead and do it.”

From Rob Niedermayer:
“In the last five, six games, weve been taking way too many penalties and were just not doing a good job penalty killing. It takes a lot of flow out of the game for the guys who arent killing penalties. It disrupts our rhythm. Thats sort of our strength, is our four lines as a team. Take that away, thats a big thing. Its just, um, guys in here who sometimes are you try a little too hard and are pressing.”

From Dustin “we-hardly-knew-ye” Penner:
“We knew they’d [play aggressively] after our last game in Edmonton when we won 5-1. We knew we’d have to withstand their pressure for the first 10 minutes. You can beat that mentality of game plan by just skating hard and making smart passes.”

And from the “don’t-care-if-Scotty-and-Teemu-come-back” department …

Giguere: “Its up to us (to play within the system). Its the 22 guys thats with the team right now thats going to do it. Nobody else.”

Niedermayer: “Were the only guys in this room that are going to turn this around.”

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About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.

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