What we learned from the Ducks’ 5-3 loss to Washington

Some takeaways from the Ducks’ 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals on Sunday:

Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau can turn alarming shades of red

Anaheim’s leader was angry Sunday that his team abandoned his game plan after a brisk and physical first period.

“We know we can’t trade chances with a track-meet team. We don’t have that kind of team,” he said after the Ducks’ fourth loss in their last five games. “And when you start trading chances, we’re not going to be successful, and it’s mentioned almost every day. They did get caught up in it a little bit when we got behind.

“It seems like there’s a whole lot of players that have gone south at the same time in a week. And rather than one guy having a bad week, it seems like everybody’s done that all at once here now.”

Synchronized slumping, in other words. Sounds like a new Olympic sport.

No word on two injured players

We didn’t learn what’s wrong with left wing Matt Beleskey and defenseman Sami Vatanen, who were injured during the first period and didn’t return.

The Ducks aren’t scheduled to practice Monday, but Boudreau said he expects to hear more about the two. Beleskey fell awkwardly into the boards and appeared to injure his arm or shoulder, and Vatanen appeared to injure his leg. In keeping with the NHL’s policy of allowing teams to be vague about these things, the Ducks said only that Beleskey had an upper-body injury and Vatanan had a lower-body injury.

The Ducks have no time for a pity party, with Tampa Bay coming to Honda Center on Wednesday.

“We’re going to have to just suck it up and practice better and play better and show more video and hopefully they understand what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Boudreau said.

The Ducks have lost their mojo

So said team captain Ryan Getzlaf, when asked why the Ducks have gotten away from the defense-first game they played a few months ago.

“We’re just at that point in the year where mentally we’ve got to be a little bit stronger and get that mojo back that we had throughout the start of the season,” he said. “We never really strayed from our path ever at the start of the year, just played our game throughout the whole game. It didn’t matter what the score was. We just played.

“I think at times we’re squeezing the sticks a little bit, trying to make things happen that aren’t always there. It ends up in the back of our net.”

Getzlaf also had some pointed and not very flattering comments about Alexander Ovechkin, which you can read here.

Twitter: @helenenothelen