Ducks plan to use six-game trip to bond, get in extra practice

The long-held approach to the road in hockey is that’s where players bond and get to know one another, maybe using it as a rallying point. Going by that standard, this stretch might serve as summer camp for the Ducks.

On Friday, they open a six-game trip that starts in sunshine at the Florida Panthers and ends in the colder climes of the Metropolitan Division-leading Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild. It’s an annual winter trek familiar to veteran players, to the point where some look forward to it.

“Anytime you head out for a while, mentally, it grinds on you as the trip goes on, so we’re going to have to stay sharp,” defenseman Cam Fowler said. “But at the same time, I like these trips for teams. You’re forced to do things together, spend a lot of time together. And I think that’s something that’s pretty valuable going through the season.”

The long jaunt features two extra days off between games, as opposed to the 14-game grind the Ducks had in January. They can rest tired bodies and perhaps get in some team-bonding activities, especially with the Super Bowl landing on an off-day Sunday.

“It gives us some downtime to spend with each other, and I think that’s important,” Fowler said.

Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle is known for team-building exercises, or at least mixing up the usual routine. He memorably took his players out for pizza before a Game 7 in 2006 to loosen them up. While Carlyle is still open to being the cool teacher, he noted that those extra days on the trip could be used for the practice time they didn’t get last month.

“That’s always a positive — maybe not so much for the players — but from a coaching staff you’d like to make sure that you have time to go and look and do some things in practice,” Carlyle said.

His pupils have otherwise managed well. The Ducks cleaned up at home last month with an 8-1-1 record at Honda Center and are 10-3-1 to start 2017. Historically, the Ducks have been a strong second-half team. They’ve gone 29-18-4, 25-15-1 and 26-12-3 over the final 41 games in the past three seasons.

They can’t rely on history, but their second-half start gives them some measure of confidence with 30 games remaining.

Their forward lines are largely defined, and Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry lately have performed more toward the high-level games expected of them. Now they must do it away from home.

“We think we can go into any building and be competitive,” Carlyle said. “That’s really our mandate, to go into any building and [say], ‘Hey, we can come in and we can have success.’ Sometimes it’s a little more hard to do with the matchups and whatnot, but we’ll work to do what we do.

“That is our focus: do what we do and get our group going to the highest level possible and let’s see what happens.”

NEXT UP

DUCKS AT FLORIDA

When: 4:30 p.m. PST, Friday.

Where: BB&T Center, Sunrise, Fla.

On the air: TV: Prime; Radio: 830.

Update: The Ducks recalled defenseman Shea Theodore because they did not have a spare defenseman to start the trip. The Panthers are going for three straight wins for the first time. Jaromir Jagr, 44, is their third-leading scorer with nine goals and 29 points and Aleksander Barkov (back) is reportedly nearing a return.

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