Orange County Register

Assistant coach Dave Farrish did away with the rest of his hair some 15 years ago, which is probably good given that he has none to pull out following some rough nights the Ducks have had on the penalty kill.

The fact is that while the club still sits 26th in the NHL following Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Carolina, it has killed off penalties at an 83 percent rate over the previous 11 contests.

“We’ve had some sorting out processes there and I think guys are starting to get a little more comfortable now with each other and with the systems we’re using,” Farrish said. “Our goaltending has been better as well. Obviously all those categories make a difference in the end result.”

Farrish has incorporated many new players on the unit. Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry are prime examples while Mike Brown, Petteri Nokelainen and the currently injured Ryan Carter have taken on larger roles.

Along with that comes the times where the Ducks have had to work through moments of unfamiliarity and indecision.

“A lot of our young guys were kind of taking over this year, guys like Carter and Brown,” Farrish said. “There’s a lot of youth in there as well as different players. When you add that together, there’s a little bit of indecision and some other things like that can cause some breakdowns.

“That causes maybe a little lack of confidence in what each other is going to do. That really is the key to penalty killing. Having the confidence in the rest of the guys out there that are going to do their own job within your system. When that starts to waver a little bit, then it can be a little trying.

“We’ve gone through that and now our guys are trusting each other a little more.”

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said that penalty killing and the power play have taken on greater importance particularly with fewer goals being scored at even strength. It is why the team often spends extra practice in those areas.

“Special teams are a huge part of any team’s success,” Carlyle said. “Some nights it works for us, some nights it works against you. We’d like to feel that we have the ability to kill penalties at a higher level and that our power play will deliver more consistently. And we’re going to ask for that. We’re going to demand that.

“It’s important for our group to understand that there is responsibility that’s added when you play in those positions.”

The goalie is often cited as the main reason for a successful penalty kill. But Carlyle pointed to something else equally important.

“I can think of the best thing that you can probably look for when teams are having success,” he said. “They’re not having to kill a lot of penalties. Stay out of the penalty box. That discipline factor always has to be at the forefront.”

It showed against the Hurricanes as the Ducks took just three minor penalties and erased each one.

Defenseman James Wisniewski said it took time for a lot of new guys to get on the same page with the penalty kill and echoed Carlyle’s thoughts about better discipline.

“It always seems like we might not get as many power plays as the other team,” Wisniewski said. “So we’re killing more and we sometimes don’t have the opportunity to respond with a power-play goal.

“When you start giving up one and two power-play goals every game, it takes a toll. Then you put a lot on your goalie, you put a lot of pressure on your forwards to score more goals. When you can kill it off, then you start to get momentum.”

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