By Matt Vevoda
AnaheimDucks.com

"We've got to be sharper," Whitney said. "I think we were a little too loose. We'll be judged on our next game. So we've got to be better for Minnesota."

There's no looking back for the Anaheim Ducks.

As they hit the road for four games this week, the Ducks are more than eager to correct the miscues that weighed them down during a 4-1 loss to the Sharks on opening night at Honda Center. Anaheim will get its first chance at redemption Tuesday in Minnesota, where the Ducks begin a four-game road trip that holds no room for error.

“I think it’s important that you recognize the mistakes we made from our standpoint were very easily correctable,” Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said. “So that’s your starting point. You turn the page on your frustrations, your anger or whatever word you use. And you try to do what’s necessary to pick them back up.”

“We've just got to do better," said defenseman Ryan Whitney, who scored Anaheim’s lone goal on a third-period power play against the Sharks. “We've got to be sharper. I think we were a little too loose. We'll be judged on our next game. So we've got to be better for Minnesota.”

Minnesota’s season started with a 2-1 loss at Columbus on Saturday night, a game in which goaltender Niklas Backstrom made 37 saves, but could not stop a Rostislav Klesla game-winning tally 10:10 into the third period.
 
From there, the Ducks will travel to Boston on Thursday, with hopes of erasing memories from their last trip to Beantown. On the day Whitney was acquired from Pittsburgh (Feb. 26), he was in the lineup in his hometown for a 6-0 defeat to the Bruins. But a third of Anaheim’s lineup has changed since that night and the team hopes its fortunes do as well.

One of those former Ducks is Chris Pronger, who was traded to Philadelphia in the offseason (for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa and draft picks). Anaheim will get re-acclimated with the defenseman, who spent three seasons in Orange County, when they see him and the Flyers at Wachovia Center on Saturday.

"Now it's about bouncing back," Selanne said. "It was, to be honest, quite an easy game to just put aside and forget. Learn about it and move on. The good thing is there's 81 left."

The very next day, the Ducks face a meeting with Marian Gaborik and the New York Rangers. It is the third straight year Anaheim will make an appearance at Madison Square Garden, having beaten the Rangers 4-1 on Feb. 7, 2008 before losing 4-2 on Jan. 20 last season. Overall, the team has a 6-3-2 all-time record in the famed arena.

An early-season four-game road trip was a way for the Ducks to rebound from a tough start last season (they swept all three Eastern Canadian teams before concluding with a win at Columbus after starting the season 1-4-0). One year later, they hope the time away yields a similar result.

“Now it’s about bouncing back,” Teemu Selanne said. “It was, to be honest, quite an easy game to just put aside and forget. Learn about it and move on. The good thing is there’s 81 left.”