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ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Detroit Red Wings haven’t scored a power-play goal on the road since Oct. 17 and are 1-for-36 overall in the last nine games heading into their matchup Wednesday night at the Anaheim Ducks.
The man-advantage slump has dropped the Red Wings into last in the NHL in power-play efficiency at 11.7 percent, a steep drop after they finished 13th last season (18.8).
“That really is crazy,” Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall told the Detroit Free Press. “If you get one or two, it’s a different game. That is going to be the biggest key. Moving forward, we have to get our power play going.”
Detroit, which is 3-5-2 in its last 10 games, made a slight change to its power play during practice Tuesday, replacing Riley Sheahan on the second unit with Steve Ott, who worked with fellow forwards Anthony Mantha and Tomas Tatar.
The Ducks featured the top power play in the NHL last season at 23 percent and currently sit No. 2 behind the Columbus Blue Jackets, converting on 24 percent of their man-advantage opportunities.
Anaheim may have to play Detroit without one of its key players on the power play, as team captain Ryan Getzlaf left Sunday’s shootout victory against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers with a lower-body injury.
Getzlaf received treatment while the rest of the team practiced Tuesday morning and showed improvement, according to assistant Coach Paul MacLean, but remains day-to-day.
“We’ll come in tomorrow and see where he is,” MacLean said.
As insurance, the Ducks recalled forward Chris Wagner from their American Hockey League affiliate in San Diego. Wagner, 25, has two goals in 21 games with Anaheim this season, as well as four goals 11 games with San Diego.
Detroit defenseman Mike Green still has not returned to the ice since he suffered an upper-body injury in a 6-4 win against the Ducks on Dec. 17 in Detroit. Green is one of seven Red Wings players currently on injured reserve.
Detroit center Darren Helm skated Tuesday, but remains week-to-week with a shoulder injury that’s already sidelined him 20 games. Justin Abdelkader also skated but the veteran left wing will likely miss his 14th straight game with a knee injury.
Ducks goaltender John Gibson tied a franchise record while stopping 51 shots in Sunday’s win against the Flyers and turned away four of five in the shootout. He would normally be due for a break, but backup Jonathan Bernier struggled against the Red Wings last month, allowing four goals on 21 shots before he was pulled in favor of Gibson.
Bernier then surrendered five goals three days later at the Montreal Canadiens. His only appearance since then was a four-minute stint against the Flyers on Sunday, when he replaced Gibson after the Flyers had scored their third goal of the game early in the second period. Bernier made one save before Gibson returned and blanked the Flyers the rest of the way.
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