from Eric Stephens of the OC Register,

When it comes down to the hard road that’s now ahead for the Ducks, Frederik Andersen offered up some straight talk Thursday as he sat at his stall in the visitors’ locker room at Scottrade Center.

It is time to get serious. Deadly serious. Right now.

“We need to start having a sense of urgency,” the Ducks goalie said. “That’s the bottom line. We almost got to treat this as playoffs time. We can’t think this way but we’ve got to start winning games.

“We’ve got to start thinking of one game as a do-or-die game every night. We got to realize that.”

The Ducks are in a deep hole after the first 10 games. But the weakened Pacific Division might be the right place for them not to feel out of playoff contention as they sort out their many issues and get their act together....

So there is hope for the Ducks to set a new course upward – as long as the three-time Pacific champions aren’t anchored in the hole they’re in.

“I think we’re aware of that,” defenseman Kevin Bieksa said. “We’re aware that the level of urgency has to be brought up. Obviously you can’t make the playoffs in the first month of the season. You sure as heck can put yourself behind and set yourself up for failure.

“We’ve really dug ourselves a pretty deep hole.”

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