The Stakes: 13th place Ducks enjoy a game in hand but trail the 10th place Avalanche by four points. This is one of just seven games remaining on the schedule pitting our team against a playoff race rival. OT is not an option. we have to put this team away in regulation time.
Trending: Avs are 6-2-2 in their last ten and winners of 3 straight. Our Ducks are the NHL’s best team in 2012. The Avs acquired super pest Steve Downie from the Tampa Bay Lightning last week. He’s had quite impact scoring 2 goals and 5 points in just 3 games with his new team.
The Skinny: Other than the respective PP’s being a percentage point apart there are no significant statistical differences between the clubs. Each is playing great hockey right now. Where’s the difference? Ducks depth should see them through this tilt. Look for a few guys who have been quiet of late to get on the score sheet. Most notably they are Bobby Ryan, Lubomir Visnovsky, Jason Blake and Niklas Hagman.
GameDay: Anaheim @ Colorado (6:00p.m. PST)
Posted: 02/27/2012 by bc in UncategorizedTags: Jason blake, Lubomir Visnovsky, niklas hagman, steve downie, tampa bay lightning
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BackCheck's Blog 
I sounds scary, we have no other option than win. But Colorado is beatable, they were rebuilding, they have young team, but they still have some dangerous players. They have more balanced scoring, and almost anyone or any line can score. We are not that way. We would again need some secondary scoring, because our top line cannot score every game (but they should, if we want to play the postseason).
Agree cz, we have to bring the ‘A’ game tonight.
Im not sure why we weren’t more involved in acquiring Sammy Pahlsson, solid defensive forward who’s great on faceoffs. All Vancouver gave up was a couple of 4th rounders in 2012.
Tonight’s game is essential, but we need to come out hitting to start the game. We were very flat the first 10:00 mins against the Hawks.
Hey ggreen, Let me for the sake of chat offer a hockey reason for not pursuing Sammy Pahlsson. He doesn’t score enough to justify his TOI in a shadow/shut down role. Vancouver has enough scoring that they can afford to bring in guys like Pahlsson and Kassian.
Three of our top scorers, Ryan, Getzlaf and Visnovsky are having subpar years. We’re just not ready for a specialist like Pahlsson at this moment.
Under Coach Boudreau we’ve made major adjustments in how we defend. Plus Jonas Hiller is playing the way we hoped. With Jonas playing like a whale. With the forwards coming back deep and helping out. It’s a five man unit defending out there. At the other end we now have 3 lines scoring. A specialist like Pahlsson could upset the balance.
I read it some where today – not sure where that was I’ve read info on so many sites. Sammy first said he thinks or hopes he still has “game” – went to say he’s sure he still has game. When a player says something like that it’s not very encouraging.
Even more – maybe because we let him go when he contract was up – maybe Sammy wouldn’t want to come back to the Ducks..
I was watching Sammy during the last two years, and he is not the same FO man. Lats three years his FO stats were going down, from 53%, to 52 last year and 51% this year. He had some injuries (separated shoulder, knee injury, elbow problems), hernia surgery and mononucleosis, and he is at 35 not as dominant defensively like he used to be. Do not take me wrong – I used to admire him a lot. I think that some youngsters will help to fill this void (Bonino, DSP). Hagman is also doing well, helping the defense. In terms of FOs, Sammy would be still much better than Getzlaf (46.3%), but Rod Pelley has now (this season) the same FO% as Pahlsson (51.1%).
Tough game to watch. Ducks sloppy puck handling led to turnovers led to goals by the Avs. That’s really the story. Ducks beat themselves and the Avs obliged.
Of the 19 games and 38 points remaining on the schedule Ducks have six games left against Dallas (1), Colorado (1), Kings (2), and (2) with the Flames. We have now lost control of our fate against 3 of the 5 teams on the playoff bubble. As of tonight winning out the string is no longer enough to make the playoffs. We need other teams to lose and lose big. For example, our Ducks could go a scintillating 14-5 in the remaining 19 games. If Dallas goes just 11-8 they’re in and we’re out.
By going 2-2 in the last 4 games we’eve done worse than hit a bump in the road. We just don’t have a margin for error. Our Ducks must win those remaining six games against the playoff bubble teams in regulation time. We need to take at least another 16 points from other 13 games.
Last season the New Jersey Devils captured the hearts and hopes of every dog bettor on the planet. This season it’s our Ducks. Listen closely and you’ll hear the fat lady warming up.
Everyone knew a loss had to come but it was hard and disappointing to watch
Now again I think of what bb said before – maybe we shouldn’t make the playoffs because we won’t be able to advance. But I would still like it – to prove that coaching was the main problem and that our GM did not see it, and did not do anything for 3 years. And for Teemu and Koivu and rest of the players, who work so hard… Getzlafg started shooting more, but nothing went in, and he was -2, and miserable 29% at the FO circle.
For more than a year, it looked like that Getzlaf thinks that the main purpose of the hockey game is to get the puck to the corner (or behind the goal) and keep it there (by cycling, moving it by the boards, or by peripheral passing). That was expected from Sammy, Travis and Rob, they were good at it, and they basically eliminated scoring of the opposition top line. Getzy with his nice salary is almost at the bottom in +- totals.
Our youngsters in the front do not contribute enough and veterans get easily tired. Fowler still makes too many mistakes, but I do not hold it against him. Sbisa plays well, and amazingly Brookbank is doing also very well.
CZ,
I think a big question the Ducks have to answer in the off season is did Getz have an off year or is he one of those players who peaks early in their career and can never replicate the numbers they put up in their early 20s? The Ducks cannot compete in the long run with a number 1 center who puts up less than 15 goals a year. I might be wrong, but I think Brookbank had more goals in Feb than Getz.
I think it’s way too soon to even think about whether Getzy has already peaked. If next year follows in the same direction then I think the discussion is fair.
In regards to this season, I completely disagree with the direction that Barstool Bob has taken this team. I think we should have been sellers. The odds are absurdly against us – one hockey analyst tweeted the activity at the deadline was being held up because too many teams thought of themselves as contenders, when realistically there should have been a lot more sellers. I think we’re one of those teams that should have been sellers. In addition to the above, Murray needs to do something to break the pattern that has emerged over the last few seasons involving the Ducks making a late season surge. I would have loved for him to call out the players with a message like “We’re going to be sellers this year, despite your late season heroics, and your’re going to cut out the crap where you lose for the first half of the season starting next year”….a message like this would have been music to my ears.
Now, the above is purely looking at the game from a hockey, or sport, point of view (convoluted with my bizarre point of view – i admit, ’tis true). Calling it quits and being sellers ain’t going to put butts in seats…especially in the LA/OC market – so from that perspective, I can respect Bob (this is a business after all). Still doesn’t mean that I personally like it though.
As much as I hate to see the ducks lose, I’d rather have a high draft pick this draft.
Question for y’all – who do you think will be captain next year? Beauch? I’d personally like to see how Perry wears the ‘C’.
Way2be on bringing out front what many have thought about Blake.
The ‘C’ is exactly where sport and business intersect. New coaches don’t get to pick their own captain. Maybe a new protocol is needed. Change the coach and the captain should surrender the ‘C.’
Last fall Teemu went public and called out the leadership, we changed the coach but left the GM and the captain in office. Part of the reason for not changing captains as often or when there’s a coaching is that captains really don’t do all that much. Mostly it’s a messenger role. On pro and semi-pro teams the captain is also face of the franchise. It’s double duty, part executive and part ceremonial.
Getzlaf, not surprisingly, has handled the dual roles in much the same way Scott Niedermayer did. Neids delegated many of the ceremonial duties, like talking to the press, to Chris Pronger. Likewise, though I’m not certain if it was Getz or a Coaches call, Bobby Ryan and Teemu Selanne seem to split the media duties. Oftentimes, the coach will designate who is available to the media.
In the case of Philadelphia, the coaching chagne from Stevens to Laviolette resulted in the captain, Mike Richards, getting traded. Ironically, recent media reports indicate that Richards appears to be the new Coaches guy while trade rumors swirled around Dustin Brown.
When I posted previously that Ryan Getzlaf might be playing his way out of Anaheim, Randy Carlye was head coach. Bruce Boudreau seems to have a little different set of ‘people skills’ than did RC.
Kinda sorta a long way of getting to “yeah Blake, unlike other teams in similar situations, it may not be necessary to trade the captain in order to change who wears the ‘C’ for our Anaheim Ducks.”