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Carlyle: Ducks were ‘nowhere near NHL-caliber’ vs. Blue Jackets

2016 NHL Draft - Round One

BUFFALO, NY - JUNE 24: Anaheim Ducks Head Coach Sir Randy Carlyle attends round one of the 2016 NHL Draft on June 24, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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John Tortorella has been voicing his concerns about the Columbus Blue Jackets’ lack of scoring punch lately. Perhaps facing Randy Carlyle’s Anaheim Ducks was the tonic.

Columbus stormed off to a 4-0 first period lead on Friday, which ended up being the final score as the Ducks left Ryan Getzlaf’s bobbleheads looking down at the ground in shame.

The post-game quotes were, um, pretty glum for the Ducks as they fell to 3-4-2 on this young season.

“We were nowhere near NHL-level caliber tonight,” Carlyle said. “They wanted it more than we did. You can’t defend that.”

Carlyle’s critics might interject with a “Well, you might be able to defend that with a more modern system or viewpoint of the game,” but still.

Getzlaf echoed Carlyle’s thoughts, more or less.

“We didn’t accomplish anything tonight, from start to finish,” Getzlaf said. “We came out flat and then we were just chasing the game.”

Yikes. How did John Gibson feel about it, though?

Oh.

Well, on the bright side for the Ducks, they’re no strangers to slow starts. They bounced back from an early funk in 2015-16, for instance.

Also, Hampus Lindholm didn’t make his season debut yet, and he can make a lot of people look smarter with his understated, borderline-elite skills.

It’s late October, so nothing is settled by any stretch. Even so, this hasn’t been the sort of beginning that the Ducks were hoping for as they try to justify moving from Bruce Boudreau to Carlyle.