ANAHEIM – Clayton Stoner has not played in a game for the Ducks since the middle of November. And he hasn’t been around them much since.

It has been a lonely feeling. As he smiled and joked that no one has wanted to talk to him for months, Stoner recounted the up and downs that go with a long-term rehabilitation from an abdominal injury and, in his case, surgery.

“It’s been kind of a long journey,” Stoner said Saturday, taking the ice with his teammates for the second straight day. “At times I thought I was going to come back and then I had a setback. Now I’m trying to build that back up and trying to get some strength back in my lower body there.”

Stoner has been around to watch home games. He has spent all the time that’s been necessary in the gym and more, working to get his body back to the point where he can be in position to assist the Ducks if he is ever called upon.

Targets that he hoped he’d make it back to the ice were missed. Stoner hoped he could start playing again after the All-Star break. His attempt to skate a month ago didn’t go the way he wanted.

“It’s just taken longer than you would like,” said Stoner, who’s previously had to battle hip and groin issues. “At certain points, you try and get back on the ice. You feel like maybe you can start building and getting on the ice incorporated back with the team. And then you have a setback.

“So it’s been frustrating. At the same time trying to stay positive and look ahead. Hopefully I can get my strength back and kind of help the team out in the future.”

Stoner underwent surgery in December and said the only complication is that “you can’t get the muscle to feel right.” Being able to practice for the first time is a significant hurdle to clear but now the repaired abductor muscle – which he calls “stubborn” – must respond well to the increased skating.

Any assignment to the San Diego Gulls, their American Hockey League team, won’t occur until the defender is at full strength for several days in a row, according to Ducks general manager Bob Murray. But Stoner’s goal is to play again before the regular season ends.

“Obviously as an athlete, you always put pressure on yourself to get back as quick as you can,” Stoner said. “It’s nothing worse than watching your team play and basically being useless. So there’s the pressure coming from myself.

“Everybody here has been patient with me and letting me try to get back to 100 percent before I can get back out there. It’s definitely one of those fine lines when you’re good enough to get back out there. Right now I’m just taking it a day at a time.”

GOAL-STARVED

The pass from Ryan Getzlaf was perfect and Sami Vatanen couldn’t miss this opportunity. The defenseman had jumped up from the blue line to sneak in backdoor as the defending Toronto Maple Leafs were focused on the center.

Vatanen didn’t miss and the one-time shot became his third goal of the season in Friday’s 5-2 win. More importantly, it was his first since Dec. 11, and he’s a believer in Teemu Selanne’s ketchup bottle theory. More goals will flow once the first one is popped free.

“He made an unbelievable pass there,” Vatanen said. “It went through a couple of guys there and I just had an empty net. Finally got the puck in the net. It always feels good to score goals and I hope that bottle’s opened up.”

MESSAGE SENT

Lack of production has Corey Perry’s ice time in recent games hovering around 13-16 minutes as opposed to the 17-20 that the winger usually sees. Perry played a season-low 11 minutes, 59 seconds Friday.

Three minor penalties factored directly into that. All three – two that were high-sticking and the other tripping – were obvious and it necessitated what Carlyle called “action” with his scorer, who’s been mired in a season-long goal slump.

“For sure,” Carlyle said bluntly. “It does. Simple as that. What action? That’s my decision.”

Contact the writer: estephens@scng.com