The marquee for a star-studded game needed some last-minute adjustments, and that wasn’t a good sign for the Ducks.
Even though they recently got talented forward Rickard Rakell back, the Ducks announced before Wednesday’s game that two-thirds of their top line would sit out as Ryan Getzlaf is day to day because of an upper-body injury and Nick Ritchie apparently has a head injury.
Compound that with a rested defending Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins getting goalie Matt Murray and top defenseman Kris Letang back to their lineup and a 5-1 loss at Honda Center was predictable.